|
|
|
Meeting the UK Ecommerce Regulations
Many UK small businesses with ecommerce web sites are failing to meet the legal requirements of the following acts and directives: Ecommerce Directive 2002 Data Protection Act 1998 Distance Selling Act 2000 This is often due to...
My Top 7 Favorite Ecommerce Tools
Copyright 2005 Jim Edwards
When you make your living on the Internet, you sometimes forget that the resources you use every day (and take for granted) might rate an incredible discovery to anyone who doesn't already know they exist.
Whether...
Ever Wondered What An eCommerce Merchant Account Is?
An eCommerce merchant account can be likened to the cashier of an actual, physical store. They process payments, and eCommerce merchant accounts do the same, albeit, with added flair and whole lot more features.
Much like how an actual, physical...
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 &...
Ecommerce & SEO
The purpose of any business website is to promote a product or service online. The purpose of an ecommerce website is to take it one step further and to allow your visitors to purchase your products or services directly from your website. This...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
Ecommerce - Making Your Bank Account Grow
Ecommerce has opened the door to many small businesses and individuals to compete on a global level with their products and services. Basically sellers look for buyers to purchase their goods online knowing that the choices and convenience it affords will tempt customers to buy.
So, what is it that sets your business apart from others?
You might be lured by so many product choices to stock your store. There are many claims to gaining quick and easy guarantees to top spots, but maybe you need to wake up and smell the coffee.
Let's assume firstly that you are at least showing up in the search engines. That way, visitors will start trickling in to your site. But what do you have to make them stay? These are the factors I see affecting most new ecommerce businesses.
Target Market: Who is your target market?
Marketing 101-, you do not have to be a guru to realize that people must have a desire in order for you to fill it. My first site was made to accommodate everything-from a pin to an anchor; but no visitors. With such a wide product base, I was targeting no specific customer group one and got no response.
That strategy also spells commercial suicide for many small ecommerce sites on the web. When you are small, how can you hope to compete on the same level as the big boys?
What you need to do is to develop a niche, one that has enough customer base, are hungry for your product offerings and have the ability to purchase. Niche Marketing is one of the new buzzwords on the net as small businesses attempt to differentiate their goods from others to create value for their own products.
Website Design
How appealing is your website? The cleaner the look, the simpler the concept, the better it works for most ecommerce sites. Are their exceptions? Sure! However, for the majority of customers, they do not and will not spend time wading through pages of worthless info to find your product. Make your products stand out. Quick and easy links from the front page directly to the product with ease of ordering.
I have gone on sites and have decided to buy only I am not able to find where to order. That, my friends defeats the process of setting up a sales site, after
all if the order button is not prominent to whom or what sales are you hoping to achieve.
Make sure all sales pages have a clear order button as sometimes having it more than once increases the likelihood of making a sale.
If you cannot design your own website to be commerce friendly, even though you might need to cut costs, consider at least investing into some straightforward hosting package that gives ready made templates that are easy to customize even without HTML knowledge. If you do have the money, hire a professional, the money will be worth it.
Product Choice
For any product, you can think of there exists a niche for it. However, you need to define clearly what your product line is going to be before you begin. This has an impact on the domain name you choose to buy. Research has shown that domain names with the name of the product or service, adds additional relevance to site and improves ranking and aids in faster listing of the site on the search engines.
Therefore, if I am selling shoes for people with small feet then I can buy a domain name like www.smallfeetshoes.com. It does not sound pretty but guess what, right away you would have included probably your three most important keyword in the domain name and this will help in site listing and ranking.
Ecommerce is not really rocket science, but it does take a few hours of research in order to be fully knowledgeable about the process. If you are planning to get into ecommerce, try reading today, there are many places on the net with relevant info. Who knows it might save you from a future headache and lost cash.
About the Author: Kimberly Valentine is a Business Consultant for over 9 years who blogs about internet business interests. She also offers business resources and advice at http://www.freeblogsites.net and hosts websites at http://www.webhostsvalue.com.
Source: www.isnare.com
|
|
|
|
|
|