14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is committed to help users deliver the best web front-end for their business as possible. The new initiative from the Redmond company is intimately connected with the Office Live, the online suite of services designed to enable small businesses to set up a professional online presence with almost zero hassles. Office Live takes out the need for a server, infrastructure and technical staff for maintenance. Instead, small businesses as well as entrepreneurs, can turn to the Microsoft Office Live hosted service and easily benefit from a web presence. But at the same time, Microsoft is concerned with the design of websites put together in order to attract customers and which ends up driving them away.
"A poorly designed Web site can hurt the image of a small business. Therefore, when building a Web site, it is important to understand what works and what does not. That is why Entrepreneur has teamed up with Microsoft Office Live to publish the eBook "I Hate My Website!: 10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Website Plus 9 Disastrous Moves to Avoid." The free download includes tips and techniques to help small businesses design an effective and engaging Web site, generate more traffic to their Web site, maximize search engine results, and provide a security-enhanced online experience", Microsoft revealed.
But handing out free website design PDF books is not the only way Microsoft is helping Office Live users. Microsoft Technical Specialist James Senior presented another initiative tied to the set of Office Live hosted services. With Office Live Store Manager, Microsoft has simplified the way Office Live users can incorporate an online store into their website.
"The store manager portion of Office Live enables this small business to have an online store tightly incorporated within their website with the minimum of fuss. Prior to this they had integration with Paypal and had some complicated ASP pages to get around the problem of selling online - hardly something a small business wants to be doing! This encapsulates what Microsoft is trying to achieve with Office Live: a one-stop-shop for all online activities for small business following the mantra of easy to use," Senior stated.