Introduction
Ecommerce is growing rapidly. Besides the big players such as Amazon.com and Buy.com, small businesses realize that they can also increase their sales revenues by using the Internet. With this realization, more and more online stores are opened by the small business segment.
The goal of this article is to increase the ecommerce myth awareness and to show you how to deal with the myth. The definition of the ecommerce myth is: Open you online store and customers will automatically come.
Demystifying the Myth
Using an online store to sell your products and services has great potential. Through the website of your online store, the entire world can purchase products and services from you. They no longer have to physically come to your store for purchases.
With the growing popularity of the Internet, the number of websites has increased exponentially. Unfortunately, this means that the chances of potential buyers finding your website have decreased and that competition is fierce. Visitors can stop by your competitor and perform price comparisons in a manner of minutes and from the comfort of their home.
Consider this and become aware of the ecommerce myth. Opening your online store is not enough for making it a success. A key factor to the success of your ecommerce ventures is to generate traffic to your website; you need web site visitors in order to make sales through your online store.
You can take several steps to create website traffic. The following list contains a summary of popular methods to increase website traffic.
* Online directories. List your site at online directories such as yahoo.com and business.com. Internet users use these to find companies. If you are not listed, they will not find you.
* Link exchange. Exchange links with your partners and with sites containing content relevant to your business. Hint: You can find out who links to your competitors by performing a search on Google.com for link:http://www.yourcompetitor.com.
* Keyword optimization. Find your niche keywords used by your visitors to find your online store using the search engines. Once identified, make sure they can be found on your webpage. Add them to your website's title, meta tags, and heading tags. You can use online tools such as Wordtracker.com to find your niche keywords.
* Pay-Per-Click advertisements. Sign up for pay-per-click advertisements and optimize these advertisements using your niche keywords. Google.com offers an Adwords program that is popular and easy to use.
Conclusion
Be aware of the ecommerce myth and take appropriate action to increase the success chances of your online store. Start monitoring your website traffic. Be patient and work on all the methods mentioned in this article on a regular basis.
About the Author
About the Author
Frank Voorburg is an ecommerce consultant and owner of Feaser LLC.
Feaser LLC offers affordable ecommerce and webdesign services.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The Lowdown on ECommerce: Making All The Pieces Fit Together
The Lowdown on Ecommerce
Ecommerce is truly the most confusing aspect of purchasing web design services. This is unfortunate since most (if not all) businesses online would like to provide their customers and potential customers with easy access their products or services. In order to help make sure you get what you need to to set up an ecommerce web site, let’s look at the necessary elements of selling online.
A Web Hosting Provider
The most important things to look for in a web hosting provider with respect to ecommerce are Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) support, shopping cart software, payment gateway services and merchant account services. They are the pieces to the puzzle and you will not be able to sell online without all four of them. If you are working with a web developer who is not providing you with hosting, have them check out the features of the hosting plans you are looking at as well to make sure they will meet your needs.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Support
SSL is the internet protocol used to send information between a site visitor and a web server securely. If there is no SSL support, there is a risk that a user’s credit card information will be intercepted during the transaction. This process involves purchasing an SSL certificate. Many hosting companies offer use of what is called a “shared SSL certificate.” This simply means that instead of having your own, you will use one belonging to the hosting company and will store any secure pages on a directory of their server instead of your own web space. For people just starting out, this can be a very good solution and is often relatively inexpensive.
Another option is to buy your own SSL certificate. This is more costly, but also more professional. The visible difference to visitors of your site is that the checkout process will show your web site URL in the browser instead of that of your hosting provider.
For the lowest startup costs, check out PayPal’s merchant services. If you have a PayPal account, you can setup a basic shopping cart that will allow credit card transactions through PayPal. The downside is that your buyer will be taken to the PayPal site to enter in their credit card information, as opposed to the other two methods which can be integrated into your own site very easily. The major upside is that it is free with your PayPal account, excluding the fee per transaction.
Shopping Cart Software
If you are not going to go with the PayPal solution, you need to ensure that your hosting provider includes shopping cart software. As the name implies, shopping cart software allows a web site visitor to browse around your virtual store and place items in their cart. It also handles the final checkout process in conjunction with a payment gateway, which will be discussed below. There are many great shopping cart packages available, but they can be difficult to install and maintain on your own. Make sure your hosting provider offers good technical support before signing on, as their help will be invaluable when it comes to customizing the shopping cart software and integrating it with the rest of your web site. Some examples of good shopping cart software are Miva Merchant and OSCommerce.
Payment
Gateway
When a customer enters their information into your shopping cart, it connects to a payment gateway or payment processor to verify that the credit card is valid and has the funds necessary to make the purchase. If this does not come with your hosting package, the most important thing to verify is that your shopping cart software supports the payment gateway provider you choose. Your web host should be able to provide you with the information you need to choose. If you already have a merchant account, you need to also ensure that your payment gateway and your merchant account can properly interact with each other. Many payment gateways provide merchant accounts as part of their service, but if you already have one you need to make sure they will be compatible.
Merchant Account
A merchant account is a type of bank account that must be setup with a payment processor in order to accept credit cards. Many web hosting providers have partnerships with merchant account providers and provide discounts on acquiring merchant accounts. This is an important factor to look for, since many merchant account providers have high application fees and start up costs. If you currently run a business that already accepts credit cards over the phone or in person through a card swipe terminal, then you already have a merchant account and your cheapest option might be to consult with the current provider of your account to see what they have to offer in terms of processing transactions over the internet. These are known as “card not present merchant accounts” since the buyer is not present with their physical card when making the transaction. Keep in mind that although a merchant account is a type of bank account, you will need to provide information about your regular checking account so that your merchant account provider can deposit into it when a sale is made.
Conclusion
The process in any ecommerce transaction involves a few steps. The customer browses and selects the products they want, typically utilizing shopping cart software. When they checkout, they enter their credit card number which is sent over the internet using the SSL protocol. When the hosting server receives this information, it connects to a payment gateway to approve the sale. The payment gateway verifies the credit card and deducts the funds for the sale. The payment gateway then communicates with your merchant account provider, transferring the funds. Lastly, the merchant account provider deposits the funds in a place that is accessible to you, such as a regular checking or savings account.
When selecting a web hosting provider and a web developer, make sure that all of these elements will work together. Request support from any third parties involved in the project to ensure that compatibility will not become an issue. If possible, find a package deal where all of this comes together, as it could save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
Max Glantzman is the head designer and developer at JuiceBox Design, located at http://www.juiceboxweb.com/. Check out JuiceBox's Web Design Advice Forum to get advice from the pros before making web development or hosting purchases.
Ecommerce is truly the most confusing aspect of purchasing web design services. This is unfortunate since most (if not all) businesses online would like to provide their customers and potential customers with easy access their products or services. In order to help make sure you get what you need to to set up an ecommerce web site, let’s look at the necessary elements of selling online.
A Web Hosting Provider
The most important things to look for in a web hosting provider with respect to ecommerce are Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) support, shopping cart software, payment gateway services and merchant account services. They are the pieces to the puzzle and you will not be able to sell online without all four of them. If you are working with a web developer who is not providing you with hosting, have them check out the features of the hosting plans you are looking at as well to make sure they will meet your needs.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Support
SSL is the internet protocol used to send information between a site visitor and a web server securely. If there is no SSL support, there is a risk that a user’s credit card information will be intercepted during the transaction. This process involves purchasing an SSL certificate. Many hosting companies offer use of what is called a “shared SSL certificate.” This simply means that instead of having your own, you will use one belonging to the hosting company and will store any secure pages on a directory of their server instead of your own web space. For people just starting out, this can be a very good solution and is often relatively inexpensive.
Another option is to buy your own SSL certificate. This is more costly, but also more professional. The visible difference to visitors of your site is that the checkout process will show your web site URL in the browser instead of that of your hosting provider.
For the lowest startup costs, check out PayPal’s merchant services. If you have a PayPal account, you can setup a basic shopping cart that will allow credit card transactions through PayPal. The downside is that your buyer will be taken to the PayPal site to enter in their credit card information, as opposed to the other two methods which can be integrated into your own site very easily. The major upside is that it is free with your PayPal account, excluding the fee per transaction.
Shopping Cart Software
If you are not going to go with the PayPal solution, you need to ensure that your hosting provider includes shopping cart software. As the name implies, shopping cart software allows a web site visitor to browse around your virtual store and place items in their cart. It also handles the final checkout process in conjunction with a payment gateway, which will be discussed below. There are many great shopping cart packages available, but they can be difficult to install and maintain on your own. Make sure your hosting provider offers good technical support before signing on, as their help will be invaluable when it comes to customizing the shopping cart software and integrating it with the rest of your web site. Some examples of good shopping cart software are Miva Merchant and OSCommerce.
Payment
Gateway
When a customer enters their information into your shopping cart, it connects to a payment gateway or payment processor to verify that the credit card is valid and has the funds necessary to make the purchase. If this does not come with your hosting package, the most important thing to verify is that your shopping cart software supports the payment gateway provider you choose. Your web host should be able to provide you with the information you need to choose. If you already have a merchant account, you need to also ensure that your payment gateway and your merchant account can properly interact with each other. Many payment gateways provide merchant accounts as part of their service, but if you already have one you need to make sure they will be compatible.
Merchant Account
A merchant account is a type of bank account that must be setup with a payment processor in order to accept credit cards. Many web hosting providers have partnerships with merchant account providers and provide discounts on acquiring merchant accounts. This is an important factor to look for, since many merchant account providers have high application fees and start up costs. If you currently run a business that already accepts credit cards over the phone or in person through a card swipe terminal, then you already have a merchant account and your cheapest option might be to consult with the current provider of your account to see what they have to offer in terms of processing transactions over the internet. These are known as “card not present merchant accounts” since the buyer is not present with their physical card when making the transaction. Keep in mind that although a merchant account is a type of bank account, you will need to provide information about your regular checking account so that your merchant account provider can deposit into it when a sale is made.
Conclusion
The process in any ecommerce transaction involves a few steps. The customer browses and selects the products they want, typically utilizing shopping cart software. When they checkout, they enter their credit card number which is sent over the internet using the SSL protocol. When the hosting server receives this information, it connects to a payment gateway to approve the sale. The payment gateway verifies the credit card and deducts the funds for the sale. The payment gateway then communicates with your merchant account provider, transferring the funds. Lastly, the merchant account provider deposits the funds in a place that is accessible to you, such as a regular checking or savings account.
When selecting a web hosting provider and a web developer, make sure that all of these elements will work together. Request support from any third parties involved in the project to ensure that compatibility will not become an issue. If possible, find a package deal where all of this comes together, as it could save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
Max Glantzman is the head designer and developer at JuiceBox Design, located at http://www.juiceboxweb.com/. Check out JuiceBox's Web Design Advice Forum to get advice from the pros before making web development or hosting purchases.
The No. 1 Ecommerce Solution Tip For You
The number one ecommerce solution you need to be a success on the Web is learning to write for the internet. You will be able to capture your visitors attention and hold it, otherwise it's click and off to another site.
You need to be able to put yourself in your visitors shoes. What do they need to solve a problem or what are the benefits they will get.
To succeed on the Web you need to learn how to write for the Web.
This is my review of, "Make Your Words Sell". An e-book that is written by Joe Robson and Dr Ken Evoy. Let's cut to the chase, I highly recommend this book to you. Let me tell you why.
Make Your Words Sell (MYWS) is a "must read" books for anyone entering into the internet business area.
Robson and Evoy ecommerce solution gives the reader all that is necessary to write winning copy that bring your visitors to your site, rivet them and make the sale. This is a book that will take you in a real way through the changes that you have to make to write copy for an online business.
You're not a writer!
You may not be a James Patterson, or Danielle Steele but You Can Be a Creative Writer and this book will show you how.
You will become knowledgeable at what it takes to be an internet copy-writer.
Learn that writing is done with clarity, honesty and from the visitors perspective. You will know the reasons why and why not. Remember, words sell, not graphics.
You will learn that benefits to the user is important.
By using this e-book you will think
like an internet business-person. What benefits will they derive from this, what problems will you be solving for them.
Yes, you will be an internet writing expert.
By the you will know what it takes and how to write convincing copywriting that will sell your product.
With Make Your Words Sell you also get 3 other volumes that are equally awesome. These are great ecommerce solutions.
Make Your Words Sell for Online Store
Make Your Words Sell for Email
Words that trigger Automatic Responses
I have re-read this book several times and each time I see something new that I missed before. I have the e-book, Automatic Responses at my side all the time. It is rare that it doesn't give me some great phrases to use to convince or to get attention.
Do you want a perfect ecommerce solution, you need to order Make Your Words Sell (http://myws.sitesell.com ). You will become an expert at internet copywriting and sell more of your products. For $29.95 it can't be beat and you will be a winner on the internet.
About the Author
My name is Bob Roy and I enjoy helping to make a new internet business successful. I have expertise in using the only all-in-one internet business package. I kinow that if you start an internet business you want it to be a success and I will be able to help you. Go to http://www.start-internet-business-from-college.com/ for more information.
You need to be able to put yourself in your visitors shoes. What do they need to solve a problem or what are the benefits they will get.
To succeed on the Web you need to learn how to write for the Web.
This is my review of, "Make Your Words Sell". An e-book that is written by Joe Robson and Dr Ken Evoy. Let's cut to the chase, I highly recommend this book to you. Let me tell you why.
Make Your Words Sell (MYWS) is a "must read" books for anyone entering into the internet business area.
Robson and Evoy ecommerce solution gives the reader all that is necessary to write winning copy that bring your visitors to your site, rivet them and make the sale. This is a book that will take you in a real way through the changes that you have to make to write copy for an online business.
You're not a writer!
You may not be a James Patterson, or Danielle Steele but You Can Be a Creative Writer and this book will show you how.
You will become knowledgeable at what it takes to be an internet copy-writer.
Learn that writing is done with clarity, honesty and from the visitors perspective. You will know the reasons why and why not. Remember, words sell, not graphics.
You will learn that benefits to the user is important.
By using this e-book you will think
like an internet business-person. What benefits will they derive from this, what problems will you be solving for them.
Yes, you will be an internet writing expert.
By the you will know what it takes and how to write convincing copywriting that will sell your product.
With Make Your Words Sell you also get 3 other volumes that are equally awesome. These are great ecommerce solutions.
Make Your Words Sell for Online Store
Make Your Words Sell for Email
Words that trigger Automatic Responses
I have re-read this book several times and each time I see something new that I missed before. I have the e-book, Automatic Responses at my side all the time. It is rare that it doesn't give me some great phrases to use to convince or to get attention.
Do you want a perfect ecommerce solution, you need to order Make Your Words Sell (http://myws.sitesell.com ). You will become an expert at internet copywriting and sell more of your products. For $29.95 it can't be beat and you will be a winner on the internet.
About the Author
My name is Bob Roy and I enjoy helping to make a new internet business successful. I have expertise in using the only all-in-one internet business package. I kinow that if you start an internet business you want it to be a success and I will be able to help you. Go to http://www.start-internet-business-from-college.com/ for more information.
The Rumors of Ecommerce Death
As Nasdaq sputters along in dot com shame, a few million few dogged Internet
consumers have ignored the crash. They continue to happily buy away. The
good-news story is not popular with business writers, but Web retailing
continues to grow seemingly unaware that the online mall is crashing down
around them as they choose garden tools, sell sports cards and order vacation
packages. Things aren't perfect. There has been somewhat of a dip since
Christmas, but I think most Net retailers can live with a post-holiday.
Retailers have weathered after-Santa blues since the English switched from
wassailing to kids toys in the mid-1800s.
We decided to take a look at recent reports on Internet retail sales just to
see if the Net stock gloom was blunting the steady expansion of online
commerce. We found some softening in the rate of growth, but we certainly
didn't find any contraction in consumer behavior. The shrinking effect right
now seems limited to the number of dot coms rather then the number of
consumers. In fact, if you subtract the bizarrely heightened expectations for
the Internet, its growth is coming along just fine. By any standards other
than the Net-boom mentality, Internet expansion continues to be fairly
spectacular.
Net buyers hit ten quarters of continuous buying
Greenfield Online reported that for 10 consecutive quarters, 60 percent of
U.S. Online consumers have made at least one purchase on the Web within a
90-day period. And 28 percent of these shoppers have clicked on Internet ads
while shopping. Not surprisingly, those with an annual income of $50,000 and
above are more likely to purchase goods (81 percent) than those whose income
is below $50,000 (64 percent). Women on the Net buy at a slightly higher rate
(74 percent) than men (71 percent). The top categories of goods continues to
be books and CDs, followed by clothing, toys and computer software.
Rich buyers seek service basics online
Forrester Research looked at the shopping habits of rich consumers, those
with investable assets on $1 million or more, and found that these shoppers
are more interested in strong basic serve than they are in virtual
exclusivity, extravagance and entertainment. Affluent shoppers have been
buying linger,
feel more comfortable buying, buy more frequently and, of
course, spend more money," said Ekaterina O. Walsh, a senior analyst at
Forrester. "They buy online for the same reasons for the same reasons that
all online buyers do and care about price and positive experiences with Web
stores." Forrester recommends that sellers of luxury goods should concentrate
on purchasing ease and a convenience return process.
Visitor traffic dips
PC Data Online found that traffic to leading ecommerce sites declined about 4
percent in February following an 18 percent seasonal drop in January. Goldman
Sachs analysts cited port-holiday seasonality, a slowdown in the rate on new
consumer adopting ecommerce and slower overall consumer spending as the
factors in the slower month-by-month growth of Internet retailing. However,
this year's figures are up 63 percent over last year. Hey. Did anybody see
that? I'll say it again. We're up 63 percent over last year! Some blues.
Features that will keep your sales growing
Consulting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers released a survey that identified the
site features that are most likely to capture sales. The research found that
with the exception of search capabilities and close-up product views, most
Website features are never used by the majority of Internet shoppers. The
search function is overwhelmingly the top feature used by consumers, with 77
percent saying they have used search functions while shopping.
Other site features such as wish-lists and personalization were found to be
less important to shoppers. As a side note, we found a study by the
International eRetail Association that listed wish-lists as a tool that works
well for building loyalty, so go easy on making assumptions based on Internet
studies.
The take-away on all of the recent information about Internet retailing is
that it continues to grow rapidly in spite of the gloom that fills the
business media. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the death of retail
ecommerce have been greatly exagerated.
About the Author
Rob Spiegel is the author of Net Strategy (Dearborn) and The Shoestring
Entrepreneur's Guide to the Best Home-Based Businesses (St. Martin's Press).
You can reach Rob at spiegelrob@aol.com.
consumers have ignored the crash. They continue to happily buy away. The
good-news story is not popular with business writers, but Web retailing
continues to grow seemingly unaware that the online mall is crashing down
around them as they choose garden tools, sell sports cards and order vacation
packages. Things aren't perfect. There has been somewhat of a dip since
Christmas, but I think most Net retailers can live with a post-holiday.
Retailers have weathered after-Santa blues since the English switched from
wassailing to kids toys in the mid-1800s.
We decided to take a look at recent reports on Internet retail sales just to
see if the Net stock gloom was blunting the steady expansion of online
commerce. We found some softening in the rate of growth, but we certainly
didn't find any contraction in consumer behavior. The shrinking effect right
now seems limited to the number of dot coms rather then the number of
consumers. In fact, if you subtract the bizarrely heightened expectations for
the Internet, its growth is coming along just fine. By any standards other
than the Net-boom mentality, Internet expansion continues to be fairly
spectacular.
Net buyers hit ten quarters of continuous buying
Greenfield Online reported that for 10 consecutive quarters, 60 percent of
U.S. Online consumers have made at least one purchase on the Web within a
90-day period. And 28 percent of these shoppers have clicked on Internet ads
while shopping. Not surprisingly, those with an annual income of $50,000 and
above are more likely to purchase goods (81 percent) than those whose income
is below $50,000 (64 percent). Women on the Net buy at a slightly higher rate
(74 percent) than men (71 percent). The top categories of goods continues to
be books and CDs, followed by clothing, toys and computer software.
Rich buyers seek service basics online
Forrester Research looked at the shopping habits of rich consumers, those
with investable assets on $1 million or more, and found that these shoppers
are more interested in strong basic serve than they are in virtual
exclusivity, extravagance and entertainment. Affluent shoppers have been
buying linger,
feel more comfortable buying, buy more frequently and, of
course, spend more money," said Ekaterina O. Walsh, a senior analyst at
Forrester. "They buy online for the same reasons for the same reasons that
all online buyers do and care about price and positive experiences with Web
stores." Forrester recommends that sellers of luxury goods should concentrate
on purchasing ease and a convenience return process.
Visitor traffic dips
PC Data Online found that traffic to leading ecommerce sites declined about 4
percent in February following an 18 percent seasonal drop in January. Goldman
Sachs analysts cited port-holiday seasonality, a slowdown in the rate on new
consumer adopting ecommerce and slower overall consumer spending as the
factors in the slower month-by-month growth of Internet retailing. However,
this year's figures are up 63 percent over last year. Hey. Did anybody see
that? I'll say it again. We're up 63 percent over last year! Some blues.
Features that will keep your sales growing
Consulting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers released a survey that identified the
site features that are most likely to capture sales. The research found that
with the exception of search capabilities and close-up product views, most
Website features are never used by the majority of Internet shoppers. The
search function is overwhelmingly the top feature used by consumers, with 77
percent saying they have used search functions while shopping.
Other site features such as wish-lists and personalization were found to be
less important to shoppers. As a side note, we found a study by the
International eRetail Association that listed wish-lists as a tool that works
well for building loyalty, so go easy on making assumptions based on Internet
studies.
The take-away on all of the recent information about Internet retailing is
that it continues to grow rapidly in spite of the gloom that fills the
business media. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the death of retail
ecommerce have been greatly exagerated.
About the Author
Rob Spiegel is the author of Net Strategy (Dearborn) and The Shoestring
Entrepreneur's Guide to the Best Home-Based Businesses (St. Martin's Press).
You can reach Rob at spiegelrob@aol.com.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Seven Pillars of eCommerce Defined
A study released by research firm "Gartner Group" predicts 75% of all
e-business projects will fail due to poor planning and unrealistic
expectations of technology. In order for any company to conduct successful
business on the Internet, a process of evaluation must be utilized. One
framework to which companies often compare their business is "The Seven
Pillars of E-business equation".
Pillar 1) Online Marketing has been in existence since around 1994, when the
first wave of mainstream companies jumped onto the web displaying their
rudimentary html pages containing product information. Still today, some
companies do little more than place their information on the Internet using
a pleasing layout; in hopes that someone will stumble upon their site and
buy the product. Many companies have not yet reached pillar one. According
to the Yankee Group, only 31% of small business and 51% of medium-sized
businesses in the United States have a website.
Pillar 2) Online Ordering is the process of allowing a customer to submit
order information through a company website. Online Ordering is quite easy
to set up through an online web-form created in static html. When the
customer clicks on "submit", the information is forwarded to a company email
address. Customer follow-up and billing occurs offline through traditional
business channels. Many tourism companies are at this level, receiving a
request forma and even a credit card number. They think that they are now in
the online business. However, all of the information has to be processed by
the vendor. In reality, this is another form of fax ordering.
Pillar 3) Online Selling takes the Online Ordering process one step further
whereby the customer's transaction is actually conducted online. For the
ease of the customer, credit card information is recorded and through
traditional business channels, the company provides goods or services to the
customer. Credit card information is authenticated directly online and
customers are supplied with proof of payment. The vendor receives payment
direct to its Merchant Bank.
The third pillar is a stage most companies cannot seem to master. It
requires sophisticated database-driven websites, intensive strategic
planning, a large programming and insurance budget, and a bank that allows
online credit card merchant accounts.
This is where www.TravellersMall.com and its services becomes the enabler.
We provide all of this capability without the individual problems that the
vendor would encounter, at a very low cost.
Pillar 4) Online fulfillment happens after the customer has been marketed
to, placed an order, and the financial transaction has occurred. This step
is divided into two categories:
a) physical products
that cannot be distributed over the internet;
b) non-tangible products and services that can be delivered to the customer
online.
For the travel and tourism industry the fulfillment process is the
confirmation of the reservation, booking and backroom movement of the
information to the Vendor Databases.
Pillar 5) Online consumption is possible with only a few types of companies.
It is not synonymous with travel. The closest use would be a virtual tour of
the experience and the use of travel articles to satisfy the consumer's
interest for information on destinations, activities, etc.
Those selling information can actually have customers consume purchases
online. For example, someone subscribing to the Wall Street Journal
Interactive Edition can browse various newspaper articles online.
Pillar 6) Online Support can be offered regardless of whether the product or
service is fulfilled and consumed by the customer online. Many companies
have an online support process in place. Customers can email or visit a
special section of the company website for support. More sophisticated
database-driven company websites will allow users to track orders online and
receive support information through the use of a password or other form of
identification code.
Pillar 7) Online direct one-on-one marketing. Once companies have got to
this level of use of the Internet, they should be using their customer
database and market data to continuously communicate and market their
services to their customers. This requires planning and marketing
management. An example of this would be an online last minute club targeting
specific customers on seasonal or regional specials.
The power of being able to deliver direct marketing programs at the press of
a key has enormous cost saving implications versus the more traditional mail
or general advertising mediums. It makes the necessary analysis of the
return on investment of these types of programs much more favorable.
As you can see, there are several important steps in the equation to selling
online. When planning an e-business strategy, it is necessary to take these
seven pillars of e-business into consideration. Ask yourself these
questions:
How far do we want to take the e-business equation?
How far will our business model and the nature of our product offerings and
services allow us to take the e-business equation?
www.Banff.com - The Canadian Rockies Internet Guide features the e-business
solutions provided by www.TravellersMall.com
Visit us to streamline your e-commerce solutions today!
About the Author
Stuart Martin
stuartm@banff.com
www.banff.com
403-609-7092
Banff, Alberta, Canada
"Where every day seems like a Holiday!"
e-business projects will fail due to poor planning and unrealistic
expectations of technology. In order for any company to conduct successful
business on the Internet, a process of evaluation must be utilized. One
framework to which companies often compare their business is "The Seven
Pillars of E-business equation".
Pillar 1) Online Marketing has been in existence since around 1994, when the
first wave of mainstream companies jumped onto the web displaying their
rudimentary html pages containing product information. Still today, some
companies do little more than place their information on the Internet using
a pleasing layout; in hopes that someone will stumble upon their site and
buy the product. Many companies have not yet reached pillar one. According
to the Yankee Group, only 31% of small business and 51% of medium-sized
businesses in the United States have a website.
Pillar 2) Online Ordering is the process of allowing a customer to submit
order information through a company website. Online Ordering is quite easy
to set up through an online web-form created in static html. When the
customer clicks on "submit", the information is forwarded to a company email
address. Customer follow-up and billing occurs offline through traditional
business channels. Many tourism companies are at this level, receiving a
request forma and even a credit card number. They think that they are now in
the online business. However, all of the information has to be processed by
the vendor. In reality, this is another form of fax ordering.
Pillar 3) Online Selling takes the Online Ordering process one step further
whereby the customer's transaction is actually conducted online. For the
ease of the customer, credit card information is recorded and through
traditional business channels, the company provides goods or services to the
customer. Credit card information is authenticated directly online and
customers are supplied with proof of payment. The vendor receives payment
direct to its Merchant Bank.
The third pillar is a stage most companies cannot seem to master. It
requires sophisticated database-driven websites, intensive strategic
planning, a large programming and insurance budget, and a bank that allows
online credit card merchant accounts.
This is where www.TravellersMall.com and its services becomes the enabler.
We provide all of this capability without the individual problems that the
vendor would encounter, at a very low cost.
Pillar 4) Online fulfillment happens after the customer has been marketed
to, placed an order, and the financial transaction has occurred. This step
is divided into two categories:
a) physical products
that cannot be distributed over the internet;
b) non-tangible products and services that can be delivered to the customer
online.
For the travel and tourism industry the fulfillment process is the
confirmation of the reservation, booking and backroom movement of the
information to the Vendor Databases.
Pillar 5) Online consumption is possible with only a few types of companies.
It is not synonymous with travel. The closest use would be a virtual tour of
the experience and the use of travel articles to satisfy the consumer's
interest for information on destinations, activities, etc.
Those selling information can actually have customers consume purchases
online. For example, someone subscribing to the Wall Street Journal
Interactive Edition can browse various newspaper articles online.
Pillar 6) Online Support can be offered regardless of whether the product or
service is fulfilled and consumed by the customer online. Many companies
have an online support process in place. Customers can email or visit a
special section of the company website for support. More sophisticated
database-driven company websites will allow users to track orders online and
receive support information through the use of a password or other form of
identification code.
Pillar 7) Online direct one-on-one marketing. Once companies have got to
this level of use of the Internet, they should be using their customer
database and market data to continuously communicate and market their
services to their customers. This requires planning and marketing
management. An example of this would be an online last minute club targeting
specific customers on seasonal or regional specials.
The power of being able to deliver direct marketing programs at the press of
a key has enormous cost saving implications versus the more traditional mail
or general advertising mediums. It makes the necessary analysis of the
return on investment of these types of programs much more favorable.
As you can see, there are several important steps in the equation to selling
online. When planning an e-business strategy, it is necessary to take these
seven pillars of e-business into consideration. Ask yourself these
questions:
How far do we want to take the e-business equation?
How far will our business model and the nature of our product offerings and
services allow us to take the e-business equation?
www.Banff.com - The Canadian Rockies Internet Guide features the e-business
solutions provided by www.TravellersMall.com
Visit us to streamline your e-commerce solutions today!
About the Author
Stuart Martin
stuartm@banff.com
www.banff.com
403-609-7092
Banff, Alberta, Canada
"Where every day seems like a Holiday!"
Using eBay to market your ecommerce website
eBay is now the world’s largest marketplace, so why not use this to the advantage of you and your website? By creating an easy-to-use eBay Store and listing some of your more popular items at a small discount from the price on your website, you can drive traffic from eBay back to your website as well as creating sales and revenue for your company through eBay. eBay’s Store fees are nominal and can usually be paid off from the profit of just a few small sales a month. eBay's Stores are set up to where your item can be relisted automatically saving you your valuable time and making the maintenace of your eBay Store effortless.
eBay does have rules about advertising for a site outside of eBay within an Item Description, but with some creative writing and your imagination you should be able to work around these while still providing an outbound link from your Item Description to your own website. One way of doing this is to use a link
to your website saying that eBay users can click on it for more product information about the item that is for sale on eBay.
You can be found by more eBay users by being as descriptive as possible in the Item Description and by using as many keywords as possible that describe your item and industry within the Item Title.
Not all eBay users search through eBay Stores for products, so I use a combination of eBay auctions in a bidding format and my Buy It Now eBay Store inventory so that my products are easy to find no matter how someone is searching on eBay. I also include my email address and toll free number in all of my Item Descriptions and on my eBay Store Front so that eBay users can contact us directly.
About the Author
Scott Touchton is an employee of www.SpecialtyHardwareOutlet.com which is a Birmingham, Alabama based decorative hardware outlet.
eBay does have rules about advertising for a site outside of eBay within an Item Description, but with some creative writing and your imagination you should be able to work around these while still providing an outbound link from your Item Description to your own website. One way of doing this is to use a link
to your website saying that eBay users can click on it for more product information about the item that is for sale on eBay.
You can be found by more eBay users by being as descriptive as possible in the Item Description and by using as many keywords as possible that describe your item and industry within the Item Title.
Not all eBay users search through eBay Stores for products, so I use a combination of eBay auctions in a bidding format and my Buy It Now eBay Store inventory so that my products are easy to find no matter how someone is searching on eBay. I also include my email address and toll free number in all of my Item Descriptions and on my eBay Store Front so that eBay users can contact us directly.
About the Author
Scott Touchton is an employee of www.SpecialtyHardwareOutlet.com which is a Birmingham, Alabama based decorative hardware outlet.
VictoryVisions >> Your one stop to build a successfull ecommerce website
Are you looking for a online presence for your shop?
Are you looking for improving your present ecommerce site?
Are you bored with your existing site design and layout?
Victoryvisions is your one stop place where you can find professionals building your shop. All you need is to give us details about your shop and its products and we do the rest. We take atmost care to see that your products pages are indexed by search engines. We will work with you untill you are 100% satisfied with the website.
We have successfully completed many ecommerce websites.
Your next step:
1) View our Portfolio
2) Request a quote for your website
or
Contact us with your queries
Victoryvisions have 10 professional programmers who are experts in PHP/Mysql. We are still increasing.. Our main motto is we grow along with our clients...
Looking forward to work with you.
About the Author
Nirmal Kumar
CEO - Victoryvisions Softwares
Chennai
Tamilnadu, India.
http://www.victoryvisions.com
Are you looking for improving your present ecommerce site?
Are you bored with your existing site design and layout?
Victoryvisions is your one stop place where you can find professionals building your shop. All you need is to give us details about your shop and its products and we do the rest. We take atmost care to see that your products pages are indexed by search engines. We will work with you untill you are 100% satisfied with the website.
We have successfully completed many ecommerce websites.
Your next step:
1) View our Portfolio
2) Request a quote for your website
or
Contact us with your queries
Victoryvisions have 10 professional programmers who are experts in PHP/Mysql. We are still increasing.. Our main motto is we grow along with our clients...
Looking forward to work with you.
About the Author
Nirmal Kumar
CEO - Victoryvisions Softwares
Chennai
Tamilnadu, India.
http://www.victoryvisions.com
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Web Design for Ecommerce
Your website is your tool for showing the online community an image of your Drop Ship retail business. Whether or not your business succeeds depends heavily on your website. If your website design is user-friendly, more visitors will purchase your products or subscribe to your newsletter. This will ensure that you are not wasting the time and money you spent attracting visitors to your website. It does not pay to drive large amounts of traffic to your website and have 99% of them leave due to poor content and navigation.
When designing your website, it is important that you switch from your own profit-oriented perspective to the prospective customers’ perspective. First place yourself in your customers’ shoes. After which, you should take some time to sit down and plan how your website should look like.
Below I will describe the factors that contribute to a successful sales-optimized website for a Drop Ship business.
1) The critical components of your homepage.
- Your title tag. It should describe your website effectively and concisely. For search engine optimization purposes, it is necessary to include your main keywords in your title, without it being unnecessarily long. For example, a good title would be ‘Renaissance Oil Paintings ½ Abstract Oil Paintings’.
- Your headline. Being one of the first few elements of your homepage that captures the attention of the visitor, it should clearly and concisely state what benefit your website can offer to the visitor. For example, your headline can tell your visitors how to earn extra income, how to lead a healthier lifestyle or how to save them time or money. In short, it should offer a solution to their problems, or address their needs. The headline should be placed strategically right at the top center of the page. You can also use the italics or bold functions to draw attention to your headline.
Internet surfers are not known for their patience. That is why it is crucial to capture their attention during the first few seconds of their stay at your website. Your headline plays the most important role, as it is usually the first thing that visitors see. Research has shown that you have about ten seconds to fully capture the attention of the visitors and compel them to read on, before they leave your site.
- Your content body. In your main body of your homepage, you have to describe in further detail the benefits your website or your products can offer to your visitors. Note that you provide the benefits, and not the features of the products you are selling. This is the basis of effective marketing: you tell the customers what is in it for them. You must also give strong directions to action in your content body and tell them the steps they need to take in order to benefit most from your website. For example, you can include links like ‘Click here now to discover why our oil paintings are among the best in Europe’, or ‘Sign up for our free newsletter now to get the latest tips and guides on good gardening practices.’ Note that you have to be concise in your content body so that you can include the most attractive benefits near the top of the homepage, without the visitor having to scroll down.
- Your opt-in offer. Ask for your visitors’ names and email addresses in your opt-in offer box. Email marketing is central to the success of your Drop Ship business. First-time visitors who leave your website without buying anything have a chance of signing up for your free newsletter. This allows you to keep in contact with them and send them promotions in future, and your effort and money in attracting them to your website would not be wasted. This feature should be placed somewhere near the top left or top right of your homepage because of its importance.
2) Professional look/atmosphere. Your website must not be full of graphics, banners or flashing advertisements. These only serve to distract your visitors from your main product offers. You should avoid flash animation as well. When formatting your text, use only a single type of font like Times New Roman, and two different colors at most. Page backgrounds should preferably be white or plain, and not be patterned or fanciful.
Another important factor to keep in mind is to minimize the time that your webpage takes to load. Since visitors are normally very impatient, they are likely to leave if a page is slow to load, hence the need to exclude large graphics or animation which slow down your loading speed.
3) Good content. Most online retailers sell products in a niche they have expertise in or which they are passionate about. For visitors to be convinced of your authority in the niche, you need to establish yourself as an expert in that area by providing useful, reliable content. Customers tend to trust retailers with strong background knowledge as they can recommend the best products for the customers’ needs, or answer any queries well. Fly-by-night businesses, on the other hand, are just out to make money, and normally do not have the necessary expertise to earn the trust of customers. It is thus critical that you make a consistent effort to update your website regularly with the latest tips, resources or articles to serve your visitors well. At least even if visitors do not buy from your website on their first visit, they would continuously return to your website for useful information. After a period of time, when you have earned their trust, they would feel more compelled to buy your
products. This form of marketing, which develops an online community, is a very cost-effective method as it costs next to nothing to supply the necessary information.
You can find free articles for reprint at:
http://www.ezinearticles.com, http://www.ideamarketers.com, http://www.goarticles.com, http://www.freesticky.com, http://www.amazines.com.
If you would like to create a forum on your website, you can use this free forum software at http://www.phpbb.com. It is very easy to set up and only requires you to create a database with your web host, with some customization.
Of course, you can also go for the option of writing your own content on your website. When writing your content, remember to include your keywords evenly throughout the content for search engine optimization purposes.
4) Good navigation. This is another strong determinant of the success of your website. For a website to look ‘professional’, it has to be well organized into categories, and the pages must be linked to each other and to the homepage. Your navigation bars must be placed consistently at the same area on every page of your website. Navigation bars are most commonly placed on the left hand side of the page or at the top of the page. If you have numerous different categories on your navigation, it makes sense to place them on the left of the page. However, if you have only about five to seven options, you can place your navigation bars at the top of the page.
Use text links for your webpages on your navigation bars instead of graphic links. One factor that search engines like Google use to determine the relevance of your webpages is by the inclusion of keywords in the text links to that page.
It is also crucial that you name your navigation accurately and descriptively. Visitors would instantly know which link to click on to find what they want. If your website is cluttered with many obscure links, visitors would feel lost and leave your site immediately.
Organize your content well so that your visitors can navigate your site easily. They should be able to find what they want with the least number of clicks possible. Research has shown that for any extra click that visitors have to take to reach their goal, the number of visitors leaving your site can reach as high as 50%!
When deciding what to include in your navigation bar, first place yourself in your customers’ shoes. Think about what they would be most interested in when they visit your site, and place these links near the top of the page. Other links, which are secondary in importance for the visitor should be placed nearer the bottom of the page.
5) The standard pages. Like every other online business, your Drop Ship business website should also include some important pages that serve the customer.
- Testimonials. This page is considered as a ‘must-have’ for many online businesses. When you display the testimonials of other customers on your website, your credibility is established. Testimonials are like votes or ratings for your business that shows the real value of what you offer. The better the comments from customers, the better your website would appear to prospective customers. You can choose to place a separate testimonials page, or you can select a few of the best testimonials and place them on your homepage.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). After you have described your benefits in detail, visitors would still have several queries about your products. It is thus useful to create an FAQ page to write down the answers to what your customers are most likely to ask. When visitors have questions, they can simply visit your FAQ page, instead of sending you their queries by email. This saves you a lot of trouble for answering individual emails. Remember that most customers are not willing to make purchases when their doubts are still unanswered.
- Contact Us. Having this page boosts your reliability as a business. Remember to include your email address, mailing address and telephone numbers on this page.
- About Us. Describe what your team and your business aims to do.
- Privacy Policy. Customers value their privacy highly on the internet. When they submit their personal information like email address or mailing address on your website, fears about privacy may arise. You thus need to include a privacy policy to reassure your customers that their personal information will not be abused or given to any other third party. Remember to place links to your privacy policy on your order pages and also your opt-in offers.
HTML editors like Macromedia Dreamweaver are useful for those unfamiliar with HTML. Dreamweaver can be found at: http://www.macromedia.com/dreamweaver.
In conclusion, whether or not your website generates sales determines heavily on the design and navigation ease. You should definitely spend more time planning on your web design and navigation well before plunging into constructing it.
*You are welcome to reprint this article as long as you include the Author’s resource box with the article.
About the Author
About the Author: Ray Yee is the founder and president of Dropshipperscentral, a website which provides a wealth of informative articles, tips and resources on everything you’ll ever need to know about setting up a Drop Ship Business and marketing it. Click here for the Wholesale Drop Ship Directory from http://www.dropshipperscentral.com
When designing your website, it is important that you switch from your own profit-oriented perspective to the prospective customers’ perspective. First place yourself in your customers’ shoes. After which, you should take some time to sit down and plan how your website should look like.
Below I will describe the factors that contribute to a successful sales-optimized website for a Drop Ship business.
1) The critical components of your homepage.
- Your title tag. It should describe your website effectively and concisely. For search engine optimization purposes, it is necessary to include your main keywords in your title, without it being unnecessarily long. For example, a good title would be ‘Renaissance Oil Paintings ½ Abstract Oil Paintings’.
- Your headline. Being one of the first few elements of your homepage that captures the attention of the visitor, it should clearly and concisely state what benefit your website can offer to the visitor. For example, your headline can tell your visitors how to earn extra income, how to lead a healthier lifestyle or how to save them time or money. In short, it should offer a solution to their problems, or address their needs. The headline should be placed strategically right at the top center of the page. You can also use the italics or bold functions to draw attention to your headline.
Internet surfers are not known for their patience. That is why it is crucial to capture their attention during the first few seconds of their stay at your website. Your headline plays the most important role, as it is usually the first thing that visitors see. Research has shown that you have about ten seconds to fully capture the attention of the visitors and compel them to read on, before they leave your site.
- Your content body. In your main body of your homepage, you have to describe in further detail the benefits your website or your products can offer to your visitors. Note that you provide the benefits, and not the features of the products you are selling. This is the basis of effective marketing: you tell the customers what is in it for them. You must also give strong directions to action in your content body and tell them the steps they need to take in order to benefit most from your website. For example, you can include links like ‘Click here now to discover why our oil paintings are among the best in Europe’, or ‘Sign up for our free newsletter now to get the latest tips and guides on good gardening practices.’ Note that you have to be concise in your content body so that you can include the most attractive benefits near the top of the homepage, without the visitor having to scroll down.
- Your opt-in offer. Ask for your visitors’ names and email addresses in your opt-in offer box. Email marketing is central to the success of your Drop Ship business. First-time visitors who leave your website without buying anything have a chance of signing up for your free newsletter. This allows you to keep in contact with them and send them promotions in future, and your effort and money in attracting them to your website would not be wasted. This feature should be placed somewhere near the top left or top right of your homepage because of its importance.
2) Professional look/atmosphere. Your website must not be full of graphics, banners or flashing advertisements. These only serve to distract your visitors from your main product offers. You should avoid flash animation as well. When formatting your text, use only a single type of font like Times New Roman, and two different colors at most. Page backgrounds should preferably be white or plain, and not be patterned or fanciful.
Another important factor to keep in mind is to minimize the time that your webpage takes to load. Since visitors are normally very impatient, they are likely to leave if a page is slow to load, hence the need to exclude large graphics or animation which slow down your loading speed.
3) Good content. Most online retailers sell products in a niche they have expertise in or which they are passionate about. For visitors to be convinced of your authority in the niche, you need to establish yourself as an expert in that area by providing useful, reliable content. Customers tend to trust retailers with strong background knowledge as they can recommend the best products for the customers’ needs, or answer any queries well. Fly-by-night businesses, on the other hand, are just out to make money, and normally do not have the necessary expertise to earn the trust of customers. It is thus critical that you make a consistent effort to update your website regularly with the latest tips, resources or articles to serve your visitors well. At least even if visitors do not buy from your website on their first visit, they would continuously return to your website for useful information. After a period of time, when you have earned their trust, they would feel more compelled to buy your
products. This form of marketing, which develops an online community, is a very cost-effective method as it costs next to nothing to supply the necessary information.
You can find free articles for reprint at:
http://www.ezinearticles.com, http://www.ideamarketers.com, http://www.goarticles.com, http://www.freesticky.com, http://www.amazines.com.
If you would like to create a forum on your website, you can use this free forum software at http://www.phpbb.com. It is very easy to set up and only requires you to create a database with your web host, with some customization.
Of course, you can also go for the option of writing your own content on your website. When writing your content, remember to include your keywords evenly throughout the content for search engine optimization purposes.
4) Good navigation. This is another strong determinant of the success of your website. For a website to look ‘professional’, it has to be well organized into categories, and the pages must be linked to each other and to the homepage. Your navigation bars must be placed consistently at the same area on every page of your website. Navigation bars are most commonly placed on the left hand side of the page or at the top of the page. If you have numerous different categories on your navigation, it makes sense to place them on the left of the page. However, if you have only about five to seven options, you can place your navigation bars at the top of the page.
Use text links for your webpages on your navigation bars instead of graphic links. One factor that search engines like Google use to determine the relevance of your webpages is by the inclusion of keywords in the text links to that page.
It is also crucial that you name your navigation accurately and descriptively. Visitors would instantly know which link to click on to find what they want. If your website is cluttered with many obscure links, visitors would feel lost and leave your site immediately.
Organize your content well so that your visitors can navigate your site easily. They should be able to find what they want with the least number of clicks possible. Research has shown that for any extra click that visitors have to take to reach their goal, the number of visitors leaving your site can reach as high as 50%!
When deciding what to include in your navigation bar, first place yourself in your customers’ shoes. Think about what they would be most interested in when they visit your site, and place these links near the top of the page. Other links, which are secondary in importance for the visitor should be placed nearer the bottom of the page.
5) The standard pages. Like every other online business, your Drop Ship business website should also include some important pages that serve the customer.
- Testimonials. This page is considered as a ‘must-have’ for many online businesses. When you display the testimonials of other customers on your website, your credibility is established. Testimonials are like votes or ratings for your business that shows the real value of what you offer. The better the comments from customers, the better your website would appear to prospective customers. You can choose to place a separate testimonials page, or you can select a few of the best testimonials and place them on your homepage.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). After you have described your benefits in detail, visitors would still have several queries about your products. It is thus useful to create an FAQ page to write down the answers to what your customers are most likely to ask. When visitors have questions, they can simply visit your FAQ page, instead of sending you their queries by email. This saves you a lot of trouble for answering individual emails. Remember that most customers are not willing to make purchases when their doubts are still unanswered.
- Contact Us. Having this page boosts your reliability as a business. Remember to include your email address, mailing address and telephone numbers on this page.
- About Us. Describe what your team and your business aims to do.
- Privacy Policy. Customers value their privacy highly on the internet. When they submit their personal information like email address or mailing address on your website, fears about privacy may arise. You thus need to include a privacy policy to reassure your customers that their personal information will not be abused or given to any other third party. Remember to place links to your privacy policy on your order pages and also your opt-in offers.
HTML editors like Macromedia Dreamweaver are useful for those unfamiliar with HTML. Dreamweaver can be found at: http://www.macromedia.com/dreamweaver.
In conclusion, whether or not your website generates sales determines heavily on the design and navigation ease. You should definitely spend more time planning on your web design and navigation well before plunging into constructing it.
*You are welcome to reprint this article as long as you include the Author’s resource box with the article.
About the Author
About the Author: Ray Yee is the founder and president of Dropshipperscentral, a website which provides a wealth of informative articles, tips and resources on everything you’ll ever need to know about setting up a Drop Ship Business and marketing it. Click here for the Wholesale Drop Ship Directory from http://www.dropshipperscentral.com
Web Ecommerce: Where To Begin?
In web ecommerce, you are going to find a wealth of information
about what it is and what it can do for you within minutes of
looking on the web. The problem with this is, it is hard to sort
out the good from the bad and the worthless from the
maybe-worth-something options. Relying on the bad stuff will
leave you broke and everyone is in search of the best options to
make them a ton. So, where do you begin when it comes to web
ecommerce?
In order to help you get started with web ecommerce, here are
some of the things that anyone on the web selling can do to make
their business more profitable and more potentially interesting
to their buyers.
* Provide quality and something that is user friendly to the
client. If you want to sell, you need to convince them that you
have something that is better than what is out there or
something that isn't out there at all. You need to provide for
them a good experience as well.
*
Sales and promotions work as they would in the retail setting
of a store. To get people in and buying, offering incentives can
definitely help.
* Provide a great looking website for them to visit. Make sure
that it is user friendly and that it is easy to navigate as
well. Things like photos and graphics that are exciting and
appealing are great tools to use as well.
* You can also do well by offering things like chat rooms and
blogs that keep up the readership to your website. Allow them to
play a role like this and they will likely book mark you and
come back for more web ecommerce action!
Web Ecommerce can be a remarkable tool when you use it well. So,
as your first step, take the time to explore what ways you can
create a great place for your customers and how you can make
sure that they come and come back.
About the author:
For more information please see
http://www.web-ecommerce-shack.co.uk
about what it is and what it can do for you within minutes of
looking on the web. The problem with this is, it is hard to sort
out the good from the bad and the worthless from the
maybe-worth-something options. Relying on the bad stuff will
leave you broke and everyone is in search of the best options to
make them a ton. So, where do you begin when it comes to web
ecommerce?
In order to help you get started with web ecommerce, here are
some of the things that anyone on the web selling can do to make
their business more profitable and more potentially interesting
to their buyers.
* Provide quality and something that is user friendly to the
client. If you want to sell, you need to convince them that you
have something that is better than what is out there or
something that isn't out there at all. You need to provide for
them a good experience as well.
*
Sales and promotions work as they would in the retail setting
of a store. To get people in and buying, offering incentives can
definitely help.
* Provide a great looking website for them to visit. Make sure
that it is user friendly and that it is easy to navigate as
well. Things like photos and graphics that are exciting and
appealing are great tools to use as well.
* You can also do well by offering things like chat rooms and
blogs that keep up the readership to your website. Allow them to
play a role like this and they will likely book mark you and
come back for more web ecommerce action!
Web Ecommerce can be a remarkable tool when you use it well. So,
as your first step, take the time to explore what ways you can
create a great place for your customers and how you can make
sure that they come and come back.
About the author:
For more information please see
http://www.web-ecommerce-shack.co.uk
What Ecommerce Software Has to Offer
Setting up a website can seem a daunting task to many of us. Not everyone is proficient at building stunning, effective and dynamic websites; but if you have a product or a service to sell, then having your own website utilizing ecommerce software is one of the most fruitful methods of making sales.
The Advantages of Ecommerce
Selling your product online means there are no geographic limitations. You can sit in your lounge in Texas and sell your home-knitted scarves to people living in Japan. The costs of setting up your business are comparatively non-existent. You don't need to purchase or rent a shop. You don't need to pay for decoration, you will undoubtedly be using less staff and the only utility bills are bills you would usually pay at your own home anyway.
About Your Ecommerce Website
Ecommerce software is any software used on your website to help customers easily shop and pay for their items easily, safely and quickly. In recent years, one of the many advances of the Internet has been the increase in publicity surrounding Internet security. It is absolutely imperative that as well as a good crisp and clean looking website you also offer and display high security on all of your online payments. If you don't you will undoubtedly lose customers and money.
Shopping Carts and Payments - The Essential Items
If you've done any shopping online, you will have probably come across shopping carts of varying levels of quality. When considering ecommerce software you need to pick shopping cart software for your site that is user friendly, stable and fits the design of your site. You should ensure that it can be used on any operating system and as many browsers as possible. Don't forget that not everyone uses Internet Explorer.
When a visitor is looking around your site at the
items you have to offer, you are perhaps hoping that they will make a purchase. Making the buying process easy for them will encourage them to do that. An 'Add To Cart' button is virtually standard on any ecommerce site now, and clicking on this button should take you to a simple but effective looking shopping cart page. Shoppers should be able to select how many items they want and then add that to basket. Once they have selected that item, it may be a good idea to take them back to the page they were last on, encouraging them to continue shopping and spending more money.
Offers
Everybody loves a good deal, and Internet shoppers are by no means different. Try to make sure that your ecommerce software allows you to give discounts under certain circumstances. Perhaps, a 10% discount for anyone spending over $200. Recent ecommerce software offering shopping carts will give you both product level and order level discount options, so you can have sale items as well as spend dependant discounts.
The Bottom Line
If you want to set up an ecommerce website, you will have to get some shopping cart software. Most surfers will simply look for another site if you don't give them the options they expect.
A good shopping cart will give you plenty of options and the opportunity to offer discounts and sale items. A reputable ecommerce software company will, at the very least, give you detailed instructions on installing this software onto your site and how to use it. Choose wisely.
About the Author
Halstatt Pires is an Internet marketing consultant with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing firm in San Diego offering automated web site systems through http://www.businesscreatorpro.com.
The Advantages of Ecommerce
Selling your product online means there are no geographic limitations. You can sit in your lounge in Texas and sell your home-knitted scarves to people living in Japan. The costs of setting up your business are comparatively non-existent. You don't need to purchase or rent a shop. You don't need to pay for decoration, you will undoubtedly be using less staff and the only utility bills are bills you would usually pay at your own home anyway.
About Your Ecommerce Website
Ecommerce software is any software used on your website to help customers easily shop and pay for their items easily, safely and quickly. In recent years, one of the many advances of the Internet has been the increase in publicity surrounding Internet security. It is absolutely imperative that as well as a good crisp and clean looking website you also offer and display high security on all of your online payments. If you don't you will undoubtedly lose customers and money.
Shopping Carts and Payments - The Essential Items
If you've done any shopping online, you will have probably come across shopping carts of varying levels of quality. When considering ecommerce software you need to pick shopping cart software for your site that is user friendly, stable and fits the design of your site. You should ensure that it can be used on any operating system and as many browsers as possible. Don't forget that not everyone uses Internet Explorer.
When a visitor is looking around your site at the
items you have to offer, you are perhaps hoping that they will make a purchase. Making the buying process easy for them will encourage them to do that. An 'Add To Cart' button is virtually standard on any ecommerce site now, and clicking on this button should take you to a simple but effective looking shopping cart page. Shoppers should be able to select how many items they want and then add that to basket. Once they have selected that item, it may be a good idea to take them back to the page they were last on, encouraging them to continue shopping and spending more money.
Offers
Everybody loves a good deal, and Internet shoppers are by no means different. Try to make sure that your ecommerce software allows you to give discounts under certain circumstances. Perhaps, a 10% discount for anyone spending over $200. Recent ecommerce software offering shopping carts will give you both product level and order level discount options, so you can have sale items as well as spend dependant discounts.
The Bottom Line
If you want to set up an ecommerce website, you will have to get some shopping cart software. Most surfers will simply look for another site if you don't give them the options they expect.
A good shopping cart will give you plenty of options and the opportunity to offer discounts and sale items. A reputable ecommerce software company will, at the very least, give you detailed instructions on installing this software onto your site and how to use it. Choose wisely.
About the Author
Halstatt Pires is an Internet marketing consultant with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing firm in San Diego offering automated web site systems through http://www.businesscreatorpro.com.
What's Toll Free Numbers Got To Do With Ecommerce?
What's Toll Free Numbers Got To Do With Ecommerce?
Sometimes skimping on things can save you good money. But
skimping is not always the wisest business strategy. For
example, I could've written this article in the windows program
notepad as opposed to Microsoft Word, and saved a good $500 and
never had to buy the latest version of Microsoft Office...
However, wouldn't it be worth the $500 if the improved
impression of professionalism put forth in all of my writings
some how garnered ten times that in profit? Would you have read
this far if I had unknowingly published this article with a
horribly obvious typo in the title? That's right - an
insignificant error caused by "saving money" can actually COST
you money in the long run.
Impression Is Everything!
If you have spent months developing a beautiful ecommerce
website to give people the impression that you are the safest
choice for whatever product or service you're trying to sell
them, then it'd be pretty stupid to have all of that
professionalism dismissed by a simple mistake: assuming you're
going to SAVE money by not getting a toll free number!
The fact is, the sight of a toll free number is something that
subconsciously stirs an idea of professionalism - something
we're accustomed to from corporate America. Area codes are for
calling your relatives and friends, after all. The phone
prefix
"800" or "877" or "888" for some reason, as if by magic, stirs
in us the image of a phone operator in a tall skyscraper that
deals with hundreds of clients a day - someone that doesn't make
their living off of ripping people off. The appearance of
professionalism is the embodiment of confidence within the
business world.
Okay, so you're convinced... now what?
Not having a toll free number for your ecommerce business (no
matter how small) will cost you more in the long run than the
short term savings will save you. The best part is though that
toll free numbers are not NEARLY as expensive as one might be
inclined to think! In fact, at the moment the prices for toll
free numbers are as low as 2.7c/min from places like
www.patricklongdistance.com .
What other services can I benefit from?
It just so happens that toll free numbers are not the only
affordable telecommunications service that might be useful to
the owner of an ecommerce web site. Conference calling (for
those teleseminars), low long distance rates, broadband or t1
internet access, and more are all examples of things that can be
gotten more cost effectively off the internet via web pages such
as the one I provided in the last paragraph.
About the author:
Jacob Richards hosts a website about
href="http://ecommweb.blogspot.com/">building the ecommerce web
sites.
Sometimes skimping on things can save you good money. But
skimping is not always the wisest business strategy. For
example, I could've written this article in the windows program
notepad as opposed to Microsoft Word, and saved a good $500 and
never had to buy the latest version of Microsoft Office...
However, wouldn't it be worth the $500 if the improved
impression of professionalism put forth in all of my writings
some how garnered ten times that in profit? Would you have read
this far if I had unknowingly published this article with a
horribly obvious typo in the title? That's right - an
insignificant error caused by "saving money" can actually COST
you money in the long run.
Impression Is Everything!
If you have spent months developing a beautiful ecommerce
website to give people the impression that you are the safest
choice for whatever product or service you're trying to sell
them, then it'd be pretty stupid to have all of that
professionalism dismissed by a simple mistake: assuming you're
going to SAVE money by not getting a toll free number!
The fact is, the sight of a toll free number is something that
subconsciously stirs an idea of professionalism - something
we're accustomed to from corporate America. Area codes are for
calling your relatives and friends, after all. The phone
prefix
"800" or "877" or "888" for some reason, as if by magic, stirs
in us the image of a phone operator in a tall skyscraper that
deals with hundreds of clients a day - someone that doesn't make
their living off of ripping people off. The appearance of
professionalism is the embodiment of confidence within the
business world.
Okay, so you're convinced... now what?
Not having a toll free number for your ecommerce business (no
matter how small) will cost you more in the long run than the
short term savings will save you. The best part is though that
toll free numbers are not NEARLY as expensive as one might be
inclined to think! In fact, at the moment the prices for toll
free numbers are as low as 2.7c/min from places like
www.patricklongdistance.com .
What other services can I benefit from?
It just so happens that toll free numbers are not the only
affordable telecommunications service that might be useful to
the owner of an ecommerce web site. Conference calling (for
those teleseminars), low long distance rates, broadband or t1
internet access, and more are all examples of things that can be
gotten more cost effectively off the internet via web pages such
as the one I provided in the last paragraph.
About the author:
Jacob Richards hosts a website about
href="http://ecommweb.blogspot.com/">building the ecommerce web
sites.
Why Ecommerce is Not Ready for My Daughter or Me
Why Ecommerce is Not Ready for My Daughter or Me
As the mother of a teenage clothing fanatic I'm often at my local mall. It occurred to me that the shopping experience for my daughter is attractive to her not because she wants to spend my money, but because the experience of buying itself is so rich to the senses.
For example, when we enter her favorite stores the first thing that hits me is the music. If it's her kind of music, we're in the right place for her. If the signs near the front of the store have sale prices and notices about markdowns, we're in the right place for me. Immediately there are two user needs met. Mother's and daughter's.
Next, for me, is how products are displayed. I look for orderliness and logical groupings such as jeans in one place, the teeny tiny things she calls shirts in another place, "hoodies" in every possible color in another section. I also look for clean dressing rooms and clues as to how many items she can load up on before she meets their limit. Meanwhile, she's looking at colors, sizes, textures, and styles. She glides along in her beat up sneakers touching the items as she passes by. Her hands drift along piles of sweaters as if walking through a field of daisies. A certain texture will stop her dead in her tracks and I'll get that "Mom, look!" expression from her.
It strikes me that some of the stores she insists we stop into don't offer much for me to do or look at. The décor is dark, black, and limited to a few racks mixed with hanging things on the walls separated by posters of half naked teenagers standing next to cars they can't possibly afford to buy. Clothing prices are hidden inside sleeves. Sale signs are taboo. But the music is hip, the salespersons are scary-looking and the smell of leather mixed with hair gel is making my wallet itch. Their website, I bet, has but one click-path designed for teens and their parents must be blindfolded so as not to read the content before handing over their credit card.
Finally in a store where I feel welcome, my daughter is admiring the merchandise and starting to find what she likes in her size. I'm avoiding the mirrors and marveling at the sales personnel with their size 3 bodies, smudged eyeliner and 35 bracelets on each wrist. For my daughter, who looks just like them, this is confirmation she's in the right store. I, on the other hand, will stop holding in my stomach when we get back out to the parking lot, or when we grab our lattés in Starbucks on the first floor.
While other mothers and myself are holding piles of clothes in our arms, or running back and forth to get something in different sizes, my mind drifts to all the ecommerce websites I find in search engines, but don't purchase from. For starters, most of them think I'm going to read 35 links in their navigation, plus their ads, before deciding which is the right path to follow. Some of them will tell me about one sale, but if I want to know more, I have to figure out where they stuck that stuff. There's nothing I can physically touch and the images are usually tiny. Sure, I can click to enlarge but how many times have I done that only to find a bigger view of the
same boring, unattractive picture?
Most shopping carts don't give me shipping dates or availability information as I make my selections. (Just recently I ordered something, only to hear from the merchant via email that their software wasn't working and the color and size wasn't recorded, so they had to contact me for that information.)
We assume ecommerce have functional websites. We assume incorrectly. We assume they built them for many types of customers, but again, we've assumed wrong. We assume that the top 20 sites in search engine results are the best of the best based on our search keywords. That, I'm afraid, is the saddest shock of all. Top rank doesn't equal the best online experience once you click into that website.
That part of usability wasn't tested for you by the search engine or directory. That's not their job.
My daughter looks good in everything. So did I when I was a teenager. If I still had that body I could order from any lingerie site on the Internet and feel quite sure I'd look as fantastic and sexy as their starving models do. But, I never buy sexy lingerie on the Internet because quite frankly, they're not selling it to me. One look at their models, their poses, their ages and their airbrushed faces tells me their target market is men who dream of making their women look like that too, if they just buy that lacey thing for them.
Fortunately I have a levelheaded daughter who loves to hunt for bargains. The last time we shopped at the Mall together was because I wanted to get her a gift for making the Distinguished Honor Roll that marking period in school. She found something at her favorite teen store for under $20. We splurged at Starbucks on our favorite chocolate coffee fixes, which was the logical choice after doing so well at the clothing store.
Online, after a sale, I'd be alone staring at my monitor at a "Thank you screen" and likely not directed to go anywhere interesting next. This is another common ecommerce practice; dumping the customer off after the last screen of a shopping cart. Instead, they should try suggesting a related site (via paid sponsored link?) or a reminder to bookmark the site for later shopping or better yet, how about a quick "Did you find what you were looking for?" survey. One quick question, one button click is all it takes to say "We hoped you like your shopping experience but if not, please tell us how to make it better."
This is what the cute pierced nose sales clerk said to us when I handed her the $20 for my daughter's new shirt. I gratefully accepted the receipt from the nail polished hand attached to the 18 year old face with a pimple on the forehead, multi-colored hair and glittered eye shadow. You just can't get mimic that kind of user experience on the Internet yet.
As the mother of a teenage clothing fanatic I'm often at my local mall. It occurred to me that the shopping experience for my daughter is attractive to her not because she wants to spend my money, but because the experience of buying itself is so rich to the senses.
For example, when we enter her favorite stores the first thing that hits me is the music. If it's her kind of music, we're in the right place for her. If the signs near the front of the store have sale prices and notices about markdowns, we're in the right place for me. Immediately there are two user needs met. Mother's and daughter's.
Next, for me, is how products are displayed. I look for orderliness and logical groupings such as jeans in one place, the teeny tiny things she calls shirts in another place, "hoodies" in every possible color in another section. I also look for clean dressing rooms and clues as to how many items she can load up on before she meets their limit. Meanwhile, she's looking at colors, sizes, textures, and styles. She glides along in her beat up sneakers touching the items as she passes by. Her hands drift along piles of sweaters as if walking through a field of daisies. A certain texture will stop her dead in her tracks and I'll get that "Mom, look!" expression from her.
It strikes me that some of the stores she insists we stop into don't offer much for me to do or look at. The décor is dark, black, and limited to a few racks mixed with hanging things on the walls separated by posters of half naked teenagers standing next to cars they can't possibly afford to buy. Clothing prices are hidden inside sleeves. Sale signs are taboo. But the music is hip, the salespersons are scary-looking and the smell of leather mixed with hair gel is making my wallet itch. Their website, I bet, has but one click-path designed for teens and their parents must be blindfolded so as not to read the content before handing over their credit card.
Finally in a store where I feel welcome, my daughter is admiring the merchandise and starting to find what she likes in her size. I'm avoiding the mirrors and marveling at the sales personnel with their size 3 bodies, smudged eyeliner and 35 bracelets on each wrist. For my daughter, who looks just like them, this is confirmation she's in the right store. I, on the other hand, will stop holding in my stomach when we get back out to the parking lot, or when we grab our lattés in Starbucks on the first floor.
While other mothers and myself are holding piles of clothes in our arms, or running back and forth to get something in different sizes, my mind drifts to all the ecommerce websites I find in search engines, but don't purchase from. For starters, most of them think I'm going to read 35 links in their navigation, plus their ads, before deciding which is the right path to follow. Some of them will tell me about one sale, but if I want to know more, I have to figure out where they stuck that stuff. There's nothing I can physically touch and the images are usually tiny. Sure, I can click to enlarge but how many times have I done that only to find a bigger view of the
same boring, unattractive picture?
Most shopping carts don't give me shipping dates or availability information as I make my selections. (Just recently I ordered something, only to hear from the merchant via email that their software wasn't working and the color and size wasn't recorded, so they had to contact me for that information.)
We assume ecommerce have functional websites. We assume incorrectly. We assume they built them for many types of customers, but again, we've assumed wrong. We assume that the top 20 sites in search engine results are the best of the best based on our search keywords. That, I'm afraid, is the saddest shock of all. Top rank doesn't equal the best online experience once you click into that website.
That part of usability wasn't tested for you by the search engine or directory. That's not their job.
My daughter looks good in everything. So did I when I was a teenager. If I still had that body I could order from any lingerie site on the Internet and feel quite sure I'd look as fantastic and sexy as their starving models do. But, I never buy sexy lingerie on the Internet because quite frankly, they're not selling it to me. One look at their models, their poses, their ages and their airbrushed faces tells me their target market is men who dream of making their women look like that too, if they just buy that lacey thing for them.
Fortunately I have a levelheaded daughter who loves to hunt for bargains. The last time we shopped at the Mall together was because I wanted to get her a gift for making the Distinguished Honor Roll that marking period in school. She found something at her favorite teen store for under $20. We splurged at Starbucks on our favorite chocolate coffee fixes, which was the logical choice after doing so well at the clothing store.
Online, after a sale, I'd be alone staring at my monitor at a "Thank you screen" and likely not directed to go anywhere interesting next. This is another common ecommerce practice; dumping the customer off after the last screen of a shopping cart. Instead, they should try suggesting a related site (via paid sponsored link?) or a reminder to bookmark the site for later shopping or better yet, how about a quick "Did you find what you were looking for?" survey. One quick question, one button click is all it takes to say "We hoped you like your shopping experience but if not, please tell us how to make it better."
This is what the cute pierced nose sales clerk said to us when I handed her the $20 for my daughter's new shirt. I gratefully accepted the receipt from the nail polished hand attached to the 18 year old face with a pimple on the forehead, multi-colored hair and glittered eye shadow. You just can't get mimic that kind of user experience on the Internet yet.
About the Author
Usability Consultant, Kimberly Krause Berg, is the owner of UsabilityEffect.com, Cre8pc.com, Cre8asiteForums.com and co-founder of Cre8asite.net. Her background in organic search engine optimization, combined with web site usability consulting, offers unique insight into web site development.
Why VPS is Perfect for eCommerce Hosting
Why VPS is Perfect for eCommerce Hosting
I want to preface this little article with this fact: The
optimal environment for an ecommerce website is a dedicated
server. Nothing else offers you the level of control, security,
and customizability as a dedicated web appliance for the simple
fact that the entire server is yours. Unfortunately, dedicated
servers are expensive. You either need to lease them, Co-locate
your own server in someone's datacenter, or pay for a huge
internet connection to your location where you host your own. I
understand that $250-$8000 a month is not in the startup budget
of most new ecommerce sites, so here is the next best thing:
Virtual Private Servers.
Virtual Private
Servers, or VPS, are an intermediate service between shared
hosting (where you get one domain account) and dedicated hosting
(where you get the whole server). With VPS, the actual server
hardware and resources are partitioned up into several isolated
environments which each act as their own "mini" dedicated
server. Each VPS maintains its own control over server software,
mail servers, and independent software resources, parsers, and
programs such as PHP and BIND. VPS minimize the drawbacks that
shared hosting has and gives you guaranteed resources, a secure
operating environment, and distinct advantages in performance
and security.
The advantages of VPS are clear:
Control. While you can not usually change system-wide
configurations such as the base operating system, you are free
to update your PHP version, Apache configuration, MySQL version,
or whatever application related change you want to make. Unlike
a dedicated server where you can really, really screw something
up if you don't know what you are doing, VPS don't really allow
you to break something really important that keeps the server
running. This makes it a great intermediate step in learning web
server administration before graduating to a full, dedicated
server appliance when your business needs to.
You can
have more than one website. You can have multiple domains,
subdomains, IP addresses, whatever. Some web admin panels have
restrictions (like 25 or 100 domain licenses) but others like my
personal favorite, cPanel, allow you to run hundreds of sites if
you want off of one account.
Security. Each VPS acts
like its own isolated environment, and as such your system and
data files can not be seen by any other VPS account on the
server. This is not always the case with some insecure shared
hosting setups, where insecure permissions or scripts on another
shared site can open the whole shared box up to attack. Also, if
another VPS user leaves an SQL loop open and locks up the
database server on their account, your account and resources
continue to operate without interruption because your resource
allocation is completely separate from theirs.
Cost.
While VPS solutions cost more than shared hosting (most are in
the $29.99-$99.99 price range), they are much more affordable
than leasing a dedicated server appliance. The fact is, even the
most mediocre dedicated server is oversized for a startup
ecommerce site, and VPS represent a great value for the new
internet entrepreneur.
VPS are not without
disadvantages though, abet small ones. Here are the main
ones:
It does take a higher level of technical
savvy to maintain a VPS solution than a standard shared hosting
account. I don't really buy into this one though, because when I
ran my first dedicated server when I was 15 years old (yeah,
it's so easy a 15 year old can do it) I only had one learning
resource: The Internet. Everything you ever need to know and
more about running a web server can be found for free on the
internet. Add to that fact
that most VPS plans come with an easy
to use web administration interface that is fully supported and
documented and you got it made.
Your VPS host has a lot
to do with the quality of your VPS account. Mismanagement of VPS
appliances by your hosting company may land you with too many
accounts on one server and as a result you may experience
performance hits. Choose your VPS provider wisely.
Depending on your plan, it may be a lot of work to setup. Once
again, this is all related to finding the right VPS provider. A
comprehensive VPS plan will include a ready to go, setup
environment with a name-brand web management console like cPanel
or Plesk. These easy turn-key solutions will have you serving
pages in an hour or two.
I was thinking about
writing a big section on "How to decide if VPS is right for you"
but I couldn't really make any arguments for not going VPS.
Virtual Private Servers are superior to shared hosting in every
way, and frankly if you are running an ecommerce site where your
livelihood depends on your site being available and making sales
you would be a moron not to investigate VPS hosting. The price
point is there, the features are there, and the security and
availability are there.
In my experience, this is
what I think a VPS account should have for an ecommerce setup
(let's use a heavily modified osCommerce setup for example):
It should be based on the Virtuozzo VPS system. These
guys invented VPS, and they do it the best.
It should
have at a minimum 256MB guaranteed ram for MySQL database driven
sites, and at a minimum it should be burstable to 512MB for the
occasional memory intensive query. The size of your database and
traffic should dictate this number.
Disk space is
trivial- I have not seen many ecommerce sites go over 3-5GB with
thousands of products- make sure you get at least 5-10GB so you
have plenty of room for expansion.
Bandwidth is kinda
trivial too- you have to have a lot of traffic to exceed the
100-250GB bandwidth packages included with most VPS plans, and
lets face it- if you have that much traffic you are going to be
making money hand over fist and move up to a managed dedicated
appliance anyway.
Get some sort of automated backup. If
your host does not include it, it's usually a $10-$15 option
that is completely worth it. That way, if you are learning how
to administer your VPS and you break something, your site can be
restored and running again in an hour or two.
Make sure
you are getting it from a reputable company that has 24/7
support. There are lots of places to save $5 when you are
setting up your business but the hosting that runs your
lifeblood is not one of them. Get your hosting from a big
company- they have the experience, the staff, and the systems in
place to keep you running.
Make sure you get a VPS
account with a name-brand web administration panel as this will
smooth out your learning curve. I personally recommend cPanel as
it allows unlimited domains, has its own name servers built in,
and has two levels of admin- appliance control through the Web
Host Manager, and individual domain control panels for each
site. I can't say enough nice things about cPanel.
Whatever company you choose, I hope you will take a look at VPS
hosting. This is your business, and you owe it to yourself and
your customers to have a hosting account that is quick,
responsive, and powerful.
About the author:
Jason Chance is a full time Online Product Manager and contract
developer for the SMB market. He maintain's a site at
http://www.jccommerce.com where he shares what works when trying
to sell and promote online.
I want to preface this little article with this fact: The
optimal environment for an ecommerce website is a dedicated
server. Nothing else offers you the level of control, security,
and customizability as a dedicated web appliance for the simple
fact that the entire server is yours. Unfortunately, dedicated
servers are expensive. You either need to lease them, Co-locate
your own server in someone's datacenter, or pay for a huge
internet connection to your location where you host your own. I
understand that $250-$8000 a month is not in the startup budget
of most new ecommerce sites, so here is the next best thing:
Virtual Private Servers.
Virtual Private
Servers, or VPS, are an intermediate service between shared
hosting (where you get one domain account) and dedicated hosting
(where you get the whole server). With VPS, the actual server
hardware and resources are partitioned up into several isolated
environments which each act as their own "mini" dedicated
server. Each VPS maintains its own control over server software,
mail servers, and independent software resources, parsers, and
programs such as PHP and BIND. VPS minimize the drawbacks that
shared hosting has and gives you guaranteed resources, a secure
operating environment, and distinct advantages in performance
and security.
The advantages of VPS are clear:
Control. While you can not usually change system-wide
configurations such as the base operating system, you are free
to update your PHP version, Apache configuration, MySQL version,
or whatever application related change you want to make. Unlike
a dedicated server where you can really, really screw something
up if you don't know what you are doing, VPS don't really allow
you to break something really important that keeps the server
running. This makes it a great intermediate step in learning web
server administration before graduating to a full, dedicated
server appliance when your business needs to.
You can
have more than one website. You can have multiple domains,
subdomains, IP addresses, whatever. Some web admin panels have
restrictions (like 25 or 100 domain licenses) but others like my
personal favorite, cPanel, allow you to run hundreds of sites if
you want off of one account.
Security. Each VPS acts
like its own isolated environment, and as such your system and
data files can not be seen by any other VPS account on the
server. This is not always the case with some insecure shared
hosting setups, where insecure permissions or scripts on another
shared site can open the whole shared box up to attack. Also, if
another VPS user leaves an SQL loop open and locks up the
database server on their account, your account and resources
continue to operate without interruption because your resource
allocation is completely separate from theirs.
Cost.
While VPS solutions cost more than shared hosting (most are in
the $29.99-$99.99 price range), they are much more affordable
than leasing a dedicated server appliance. The fact is, even the
most mediocre dedicated server is oversized for a startup
ecommerce site, and VPS represent a great value for the new
internet entrepreneur.
VPS are not without
disadvantages though, abet small ones. Here are the main
ones:
It does take a higher level of technical
savvy to maintain a VPS solution than a standard shared hosting
account. I don't really buy into this one though, because when I
ran my first dedicated server when I was 15 years old (yeah,
it's so easy a 15 year old can do it) I only had one learning
resource: The Internet. Everything you ever need to know and
more about running a web server can be found for free on the
internet. Add to that fact
that most VPS plans come with an easy
to use web administration interface that is fully supported and
documented and you got it made.
Your VPS host has a lot
to do with the quality of your VPS account. Mismanagement of VPS
appliances by your hosting company may land you with too many
accounts on one server and as a result you may experience
performance hits. Choose your VPS provider wisely.
Depending on your plan, it may be a lot of work to setup. Once
again, this is all related to finding the right VPS provider. A
comprehensive VPS plan will include a ready to go, setup
environment with a name-brand web management console like cPanel
or Plesk. These easy turn-key solutions will have you serving
pages in an hour or two.
I was thinking about
writing a big section on "How to decide if VPS is right for you"
but I couldn't really make any arguments for not going VPS.
Virtual Private Servers are superior to shared hosting in every
way, and frankly if you are running an ecommerce site where your
livelihood depends on your site being available and making sales
you would be a moron not to investigate VPS hosting. The price
point is there, the features are there, and the security and
availability are there.
In my experience, this is
what I think a VPS account should have for an ecommerce setup
(let's use a heavily modified osCommerce setup for example):
It should be based on the Virtuozzo VPS system. These
guys invented VPS, and they do it the best.
It should
have at a minimum 256MB guaranteed ram for MySQL database driven
sites, and at a minimum it should be burstable to 512MB for the
occasional memory intensive query. The size of your database and
traffic should dictate this number.
Disk space is
trivial- I have not seen many ecommerce sites go over 3-5GB with
thousands of products- make sure you get at least 5-10GB so you
have plenty of room for expansion.
Bandwidth is kinda
trivial too- you have to have a lot of traffic to exceed the
100-250GB bandwidth packages included with most VPS plans, and
lets face it- if you have that much traffic you are going to be
making money hand over fist and move up to a managed dedicated
appliance anyway.
Get some sort of automated backup. If
your host does not include it, it's usually a $10-$15 option
that is completely worth it. That way, if you are learning how
to administer your VPS and you break something, your site can be
restored and running again in an hour or two.
Make sure
you are getting it from a reputable company that has 24/7
support. There are lots of places to save $5 when you are
setting up your business but the hosting that runs your
lifeblood is not one of them. Get your hosting from a big
company- they have the experience, the staff, and the systems in
place to keep you running.
Make sure you get a VPS
account with a name-brand web administration panel as this will
smooth out your learning curve. I personally recommend cPanel as
it allows unlimited domains, has its own name servers built in,
and has two levels of admin- appliance control through the Web
Host Manager, and individual domain control panels for each
site. I can't say enough nice things about cPanel.
Whatever company you choose, I hope you will take a look at VPS
hosting. This is your business, and you owe it to yourself and
your customers to have a hosting account that is quick,
responsive, and powerful.
About the author:
Jason Chance is a full time Online Product Manager and contract
developer for the SMB market. He maintain's a site at
http://www.jccommerce.com where he shares what works when trying
to sell and promote online.
Why You Should Use Turnkey Websites To Jumpstart Your Ecommerce Activity
Why You Should Use Turnkey Websites To Jumpstart Your Ecommerce Activity
Most people looking to do business online have heard of turnkey websites. They seem to be a one stop solution to getting an online business going without all the usual hassles associated with an online startup. Take a look thought the business & industry section of eBay and you'll see thousands of turnkey sites, sometimes going for hundreds of dollars.
Turnkey sites are ideal way to start or grow your ecommerce activity, below are just a handful of reasons explaining why.
1. Design
Ever tried to design a site yourself. Did it go well? Or were the results not as expected. Designing and building a site from scratch can be difficult work if not impossible to finalise your desired look. Turnkey sites already have been designed by full time graphic designers to look professional and more importantly to achieve maximum sales conversions from your end users visitors. Why spend hours trying to get that look right when you can buy an existing proven design ready to go.
2. Functionality
All our sites at Trading-Web-Solutions are tested constantly for days before they are released. Each site needs to be tested in every browser, not just Internet Explorer but Netscape and browsers growing in popularity such as Opera or Firefox. Other things to test on your site include scripts, databases & different screen modes. Will the script work with UNIX and windows servers? Does the javascript function in both Netscape and Opera? Even a small fault that occurs when using another system could cost you many visitors and more importantly orders. Testing a site is the most time consuming process of getting any online businesses running.
3. Easy to modify
The majority of turnkey sites are very easily to modify, just by opening your control panel or by loading the site into Frontpage. This is necessary, as you should personalise your site with your welcoming text and sales message to make the site yours. You don't want your site to be exactly the same as someone else's does you. With all the hard work done by someone else, just personalise your site to complete it and make it stand out from
the crowd.
4. Trusted Partners
Affiliate Marketing is made easy by turnkey websites. If you want an affiliate relationship with another online organisation you need to be careful whom you choose. But by purchasing a turnkey site already affiliated with another party, all the research has already been done for you. Everything will have been examined about the affiliate program in detail, to make sure they are reliable, secure, pay out on time, offer excellent support to affiliates, and offer flexible linking methods. And if your site is not affiliated to another party but a stand-alone site it will be setup with the other payment links to a trusted payment processor such as Paypal or Nochex.
5. Cost
Turnkey websites are very cheap. For roughly $200 you can get one setup including one years hosting or pay monthly hosting and get one setup for about $100. Try getting a new site developed for this cost and you won't get very far. Most web developers charge from $85 per hour, so you'll be lucky if you get one page done for the same cost.
6. Quick Setup
Sellers who setup turnkey websites normally do it for a living on a full time basis. They've done it many times before so they know exactly what they're doing. Usually your site will be setup and live within 24 - 48 hours. You shouldn't have any problems after your sites been setup, after all they livelihood depends on it and if a seller makes any mistakes during the setup it can be very costly if not financially, then certainly towards their reputation and feedback.
7. Support
Want promotional advice, or to change the style of your site. Who better to ask than the people who created or installed your site? After sales support is normally included by email or a support ticket system and is a valuable source of information. Just one of the benefits of purchasing a turnkey website.
About the Author
Mark Kenny is an online entrepreneur who specialises in developing turnkey websites in niche and profitable markets. You can see a selection of the work he is involved in at: http://www.trading-web-solutions.com
Most people looking to do business online have heard of turnkey websites. They seem to be a one stop solution to getting an online business going without all the usual hassles associated with an online startup. Take a look thought the business & industry section of eBay and you'll see thousands of turnkey sites, sometimes going for hundreds of dollars.
Turnkey sites are ideal way to start or grow your ecommerce activity, below are just a handful of reasons explaining why.
1. Design
Ever tried to design a site yourself. Did it go well? Or were the results not as expected. Designing and building a site from scratch can be difficult work if not impossible to finalise your desired look. Turnkey sites already have been designed by full time graphic designers to look professional and more importantly to achieve maximum sales conversions from your end users visitors. Why spend hours trying to get that look right when you can buy an existing proven design ready to go.
2. Functionality
All our sites at Trading-Web-Solutions are tested constantly for days before they are released. Each site needs to be tested in every browser, not just Internet Explorer but Netscape and browsers growing in popularity such as Opera or Firefox. Other things to test on your site include scripts, databases & different screen modes. Will the script work with UNIX and windows servers? Does the javascript function in both Netscape and Opera? Even a small fault that occurs when using another system could cost you many visitors and more importantly orders. Testing a site is the most time consuming process of getting any online businesses running.
3. Easy to modify
The majority of turnkey sites are very easily to modify, just by opening your control panel or by loading the site into Frontpage. This is necessary, as you should personalise your site with your welcoming text and sales message to make the site yours. You don't want your site to be exactly the same as someone else's does you. With all the hard work done by someone else, just personalise your site to complete it and make it stand out from
the crowd.
4. Trusted Partners
Affiliate Marketing is made easy by turnkey websites. If you want an affiliate relationship with another online organisation you need to be careful whom you choose. But by purchasing a turnkey site already affiliated with another party, all the research has already been done for you. Everything will have been examined about the affiliate program in detail, to make sure they are reliable, secure, pay out on time, offer excellent support to affiliates, and offer flexible linking methods. And if your site is not affiliated to another party but a stand-alone site it will be setup with the other payment links to a trusted payment processor such as Paypal or Nochex.
5. Cost
Turnkey websites are very cheap. For roughly $200 you can get one setup including one years hosting or pay monthly hosting and get one setup for about $100. Try getting a new site developed for this cost and you won't get very far. Most web developers charge from $85 per hour, so you'll be lucky if you get one page done for the same cost.
6. Quick Setup
Sellers who setup turnkey websites normally do it for a living on a full time basis. They've done it many times before so they know exactly what they're doing. Usually your site will be setup and live within 24 - 48 hours. You shouldn't have any problems after your sites been setup, after all they livelihood depends on it and if a seller makes any mistakes during the setup it can be very costly if not financially, then certainly towards their reputation and feedback.
7. Support
Want promotional advice, or to change the style of your site. Who better to ask than the people who created or installed your site? After sales support is normally included by email or a support ticket system and is a valuable source of information. Just one of the benefits of purchasing a turnkey website.
About the Author
Mark Kenny is an online entrepreneur who specialises in developing turnkey websites in niche and profitable markets. You can see a selection of the work he is involved in at: http://www.trading-web-solutions.com
Advertising Your eCommerce Web Site
Advertising Your eCommerce Web Site
8 Tips for Increasing Your Online Sales
Once you’ve launched your eCommerce web site, you’ll need to show it off to the online world. Whether you’re paying someone to submit your site to all the major and minor search engines and directories, it’s still up to you to continually advertise your eCommerce site in order to keep attracting business.
Many online business owners will tell you that within six to nine months of your launch date you’ll start seeing increased orders for your products. However here are 8 things you can do to lure people to your site now!
1.Advertise on http://www.Craigslist.org . This entry will only last for 10 days and you must submit to one city and category at a time. You can include photos and/or advanced HTML in your ad.
2.Write a press release and send out for free to the following sites: http://www.prweb.com [this one has been around for several years]; http://www.prfree.com and http://www.openpress.com Paid submissions will get you more views, quicker listings in the search engines, and the ability to post photos and keep track of your statistics.
3.Submit your site[s] to http://www.isedb.com/html/Web_Directories [You’ll discover loads of directories here, from the highly specialized to the mainstream. Many of the sites have ratings; indicate whether they’re accepting new submissions, and if there’s a fee for submitting].
4.Search engine positioning. When advertising your eCommerce site, always have the following information on hand: A. Your Web site title. This should be approximately 7-12 words. B. Description. Have 3 different descriptions of
varying lengths. 15 words, 25 words, 100 words. Have them summarize the essence of your site. C. Keywords. 10 – 50 of your most important keywords arranged in order of importance. Again, some online directories will allow you to contribute more keywords than others.
5.Write articles about your products/service. Be an online expert. What makes your site so unique from the thousands of others in your chosen category? Is it your customized service? Your low prices? Your high quality? Don’t over promote your product, but concentrate on what will help others. It’s highly recommended you include at least two or three testimonials.
6.Exchange links with other sites that have quality information and are related to your field in some way. For example, I sell a lot of soap so I link with mostly gift basket, crafting and candle sites.
7.Free classifieds. These can sometimes get you listed in the search engines, but don’t expect too much response from them.
8.Offer a freebie. For example, if you have an eBook for sale, you won’t give the entire book away, but having a chapter or two online will increase interest – and sales. If you make or sell a product, offer a free sample with a paid order. Or free shipping on sales over a certain amount.
Follow one or more of these helpful tips and watch your online business bloom!
About the Author
Lisa Maliga, writer & owner of Everything Shea Aromatic Creations [http://www.everythingshea.com] offers a fragrant selection of designer shea butter glycerin soaps, exclusive Whipped Shea Butter, & unique SoapCakes to personalize for gifts or promotions.
8 Tips for Increasing Your Online Sales
Once you’ve launched your eCommerce web site, you’ll need to show it off to the online world. Whether you’re paying someone to submit your site to all the major and minor search engines and directories, it’s still up to you to continually advertise your eCommerce site in order to keep attracting business.
Many online business owners will tell you that within six to nine months of your launch date you’ll start seeing increased orders for your products. However here are 8 things you can do to lure people to your site now!
1.Advertise on http://www.Craigslist.org . This entry will only last for 10 days and you must submit to one city and category at a time. You can include photos and/or advanced HTML in your ad.
2.Write a press release and send out for free to the following sites: http://www.prweb.com [this one has been around for several years]; http://www.prfree.com and http://www.openpress.com Paid submissions will get you more views, quicker listings in the search engines, and the ability to post photos and keep track of your statistics.
3.Submit your site[s] to http://www.isedb.com/html/Web_Directories [You’ll discover loads of directories here, from the highly specialized to the mainstream. Many of the sites have ratings; indicate whether they’re accepting new submissions, and if there’s a fee for submitting].
4.Search engine positioning. When advertising your eCommerce site, always have the following information on hand: A. Your Web site title. This should be approximately 7-12 words. B. Description. Have 3 different descriptions of
varying lengths. 15 words, 25 words, 100 words. Have them summarize the essence of your site. C. Keywords. 10 – 50 of your most important keywords arranged in order of importance. Again, some online directories will allow you to contribute more keywords than others.
5.Write articles about your products/service. Be an online expert. What makes your site so unique from the thousands of others in your chosen category? Is it your customized service? Your low prices? Your high quality? Don’t over promote your product, but concentrate on what will help others. It’s highly recommended you include at least two or three testimonials.
6.Exchange links with other sites that have quality information and are related to your field in some way. For example, I sell a lot of soap so I link with mostly gift basket, crafting and candle sites.
7.Free classifieds. These can sometimes get you listed in the search engines, but don’t expect too much response from them.
8.Offer a freebie. For example, if you have an eBook for sale, you won’t give the entire book away, but having a chapter or two online will increase interest – and sales. If you make or sell a product, offer a free sample with a paid order. Or free shipping on sales over a certain amount.
Follow one or more of these helpful tips and watch your online business bloom!
About the Author
Lisa Maliga, writer & owner of Everything Shea Aromatic Creations [http://www.everythingshea.com] offers a fragrant selection of designer shea butter glycerin soaps, exclusive Whipped Shea Butter, & unique SoapCakes to personalize for gifts or promotions.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Building eCommerce Websites That Work - Part 1
| Building eCommerce Websites That Work - Part 1 Copyright 2005 Richard Keir You want to succeed at eCommerce? Welcome to a very big family. Right off, let’s be clear - there are lots of ways to do business on the internet. And lots of ways to both make and lose money. Successful eCommerce websites come in all shapes, kinds and colors and while I can't cover every type of site in this series, I will present the basics you need to consider and apply for an eCommerce web site to be successful. Let's begin by assuming you have some of the fundamentals, that you understand the language and that you are serious. I’m not going to tell you how to set up a web site or get a decent hosting account. We’re beyond those basics. The basics here are the factors which will influence the success (or failure) and the degree of success your eCommerce web site experiences. First and foremost, you need to provide value for your customers. Absurd as it seems to have to repeat that, a lot of so-called eCommerce sites provide no or very little value for their visitors. Pretending to offer value is not the same thing as providing value. Promoting miserably written, hackneyed, cloned ebooks filled with questionably useful and/or outdated content doesn’t make a high value web site. Sure you might make some money. Once. And you’ll end up with a high refund rate - and an unhappy credit card processor. That path means you're taking advantage of inexperienced customers and abusing their willingness to trust you. This isn't the way to a long-term business with steady repeat customers. Value on the net is not very different from any kind of off-line retail sales -- a quality product line that will attract potential customers and a competitive price that will lead to purchases. An honest, quality product that will meet the expectations you’ve created in your buyers. Hyped junk just doesn't cut it. Next, you’ve got to have a smooth, user-friendly, easy to follow process all the way to your thank you page. The simpler, cleaner and clearer you can make the process, the better. Where it makes sense you can augment this user-responsive site profile by adding live-response chat. If you do decide to use call-in or live chat, it’s imperative that your operators be well-trained, understand your products and your system and be customer friendly. This can be a problem if you outsource. The less expensive out-source call centers can turn out to be very expensive in terms of lost sales and customers who never come back. You’ll need to check very carefully and be 100 per cent certain the operators actually speak and understand the primary language(s) of your targeted customer group. You’ll need to provide extensive background information and highly flexible, well-written scripts. You should collect your own customer evaluations - separately. Don't rely exclusively on any monitoring or customer satisfaction
surveys provided by the call center. Track your ROI to be sure it's money well-spent. Don't stop monitoring just because the results looked good for the first two or three months. Things change. Make sure you're tracking desired actions linked to the call center separately from those NOT related to call-in or live chat. Mixing outcomes leaves you in the dark about what's really happening. You probably should have an attractive website. An ugly site can work, but to do that you need to absolutely know exactly what you're doing and why it should work. And you'll have to test like crazy to optimize (of course, you should be doing that anyway). The ugly site tactic is not for the inexperienced. Very few individuals really have the grasp of marketing, market and customer psychology that makes for a successful "ugly" site. To provide a pleasant experience, you need to be careful in what you use - colors, text-size, graphics, animation and white space can add value to your site or turn it into a user nightmare. Test your site with people who will tell you the truth. Just because you love it doesn't mean anyone else will. In general, aiming for a professional appearing site is your best option. Look for the highest ranked, busiest sites in your business area and study the layouts they use. Extract the common features that you see on those sites. While other factors heavily influence traffic and ranking, appearance has a strong effect on visitors and sites that do testing evolve toward optimizing visitor behavior. Keep in mind that a site's desired actions affect the design and layout. You'll want to study sites where those actions are most similar to the desired actions you target on your web site. If your goal is direct product sales, there's not much point in emulating a site that's optimized for newsletter sign-ups or AdSense. If your main goal is direct sales (and if it is, then you need backend products too), provide incentives for customers to buy AND to return. The return factor is critical to a long-term strategy for success. Anyone who buys is your best possible future customer. Keep them, track them, make them special offers. Use coupons, discounts, special deals, customer-only offers and back end sales. Your customer base is your gold mine. Since they've shown enough faith in you to buy, do your utmost to never damage that faith. Treat them like the priceless resource they are. Think long-term: successful eCommerce websites are all about value and customer service. About the Author Richard teaches, trains and consults, on and off-line, on business and professional presentations, eCommerce, site building and programming. And writes a lot. Visit http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites.com for articles, information, resources and links and check our blog at http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites/blog for opinion and ideas. |
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