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"How exactly does Ecommerce work"?"How exactly does Ecommerce work"?This has to be the most-frequently asked question I receivefrom newbie clients. They know people are buying online andthey know they have to accept credit cards if they want tostand a chance in all the net-based competition, but beyondthat realization, most are clueless as to how it all works.I can't blame them, really. It's a confusing online worldout there and a lot of people who are trying to tell themhow it works are really just trying to sell them their ownsolution. It's kinda hard to trust the validity of what theysay when profit is a huge motivating force behind theirpersuasive suggestions.And to be sure, there is profit in this Ecommerce game!Money is to be made at many steps along the Ecommerce path.With that in mind, let's take a walk along the path toEcommerce, and take a look at the signs--or components--thatare necessary to take part in the Ecommerce excitement andpotential profits.1. The Merchant Account:This really is your first step towards Ecommerce, unlessyou have chosen to go through a payment facility and arewilling to give up a rather large portion of your sales infees. The up-front costs of a merchant account can be heftyfor a small business, but the long-term savings can besubstantial.This is especially true if you are selling big ticket items.For instance, on the sale of a $300 product/service througha payment facility you could pay between $20-$45 dollars ormore in fees. With your own merchant account it willprobably cost you about $9. With the typical fees andequipment for a merchant account startup costing about$1,500, you can recoup that cost rather quickly.A merchant account comes with a merchant identificationnumber. That is about all it gets you. In order to processtransactions you need either a terminal (the little box thatyou swipe your credit card through at retail outlets) orsoftware that runs on your PC and will dial up the merchantvia your modem, and then process the transaction and depositthe money into your bank account.2. The Shopping Cart:If you are selling just one or two items on your site youwon't have much need for a shopping cart. A site with avariety of products should use the shopping cart systembecause it's the easiest way for your customers to shop. Theeasier it is to shop, the more they will spend, which isexactly the psychology supermarkets use, and exactly howshoppers are similar whether in a supermarket or scanningthrough your website. And the nice thing about electronicshopping carts is that the wheels never go square, and youdon't have to send a clerk out after the store closes toround up all the carts that have been left scattered aroundthe neighborhood. So shopping carts are good. But how willthey work with your merchant account and the all-importantordering process?If the orders placed on your site are to be processed withthe customer's credit card as a sale through your PC orswipe erminal, then there doesn't have to be anycompatibility between your cart and your merchant account.The two will work completely independently, each doing theirpart of the job.If, on the other hand, you would like all of your incomingorders to be automatically processed for you as the customerhits the submit button, you will need what is called "realtime processing."3. Real-Time Processing - Almost every website company Italk to would like to have their orders processed for them(the vision of the owner of a website company turning on thePC and then stretching out in a hammock, watching the ordersget processed on the screen, comes to mind). However, mostweb company people, upon learning the cost involved, take myadvice to wait until they have a steady flow of orderscoming in before they use real-time processing. If you're ona tight budget the extra fees involved in real-timeprocessing might be better used to aggressively advertiseand drive customer traffic to your site. Processing a feworders per day doesn't take very long and until you find itto be more time-consuming to process the orders yourselfthan you like, you are probably better off processing suchorders manually.If you are starting with a healthy budget and an aggressivepromotion plan you will probably be better off implementingreal-time processing right from the start. Changingorder-processing methods can sometimes result in systemhiccups and you don't want anything to slow down yourmomentum once you've started. You'll also save money, nothaving to set up your ordering system twice.4. Web Hosting - The web host who is hosting your site cansometimes make a difference in how compatible your entiresite and ordering system are with each other. I say"sometimes" because for those of us not using real-timeprocessing, it doesn't matter who your host is or where yourmerchant account is located. They are independent of
eachother. Orders arrive and you process them. No interactionbetween the two is needed.Problems can arise when you bring a shopping cart ANDreal-time processing into the picture. A shopping cart alonewon't cause problems but the cart you choose to use must becompatible with your web host. Some carts are designed torun on certain types of servers, so when choosing one becautious to make absolutely sure you can use it with yourcurrent host. Otherwise you had better be prepared to find anew one.If you want a shopping cart AND real-time processing thethree (cart, processing, and host) must work together well.Your shopping cart must be compatible with your host and thecart must be compatible with your payment processor. Withall the different shopping carts, hosts and paymentfacilities out there, putting together the right team can bea real challenge. This is especially true for the newbie whodoesn't understand how it all works and how it all has towork together, or understands imperfectly but thinks he orshe has it all under control when the decisions are finallymade.One Stop Shops -The easiest way to find a compatible solution is to choose aprovider who offers all you need under one roof. This iswhat I have done by partnering with Virtualis Systems. I amable to offer a great hosting solution along with acompatible shopping cart that works with almost any realtime processor. I have even taken this a step further bypartnering with a rock-solid merchant account provider,E-Commerce Exchange. Now I don't want to force MY "solutionof choice" on you in this article so I have set up anautoresponder with details on the Ecommerce solution Irecommend to all my clients. Please email our autoresponderat ecommerce@lrsmarketing.com for details.Your Website Designer:Asking your website designer to recommend a compatiblesolution is also a good idea. Most likely, he or she hassuccessfully set up shopping carts and payment systems thathave worked together for other clients and with thatexperience can confidently recommend one that will be rightfor your specific needs. There is also the added benefitthat your designer is comfortable and familiar with the cartand payment processing configuration. This will result inless time spent setting up your site, thus saving you moneyin design costs.Who to Choose?Choosing the right person for this task is perhaps the mostimportant decision you can make (in Ecommerce, that is.Choosing a dentist, a pet, and which TV show to watch alsorank high in importance). Nobody is an expert in all areasof Ecommerce because there are so many variables, dependingon which configurations of hosts, carts, and merchants youchoose. Find someone with whom you can talk to and who willlisten to YOUR needs with understanding. A web designer whohas created sites selling one product through mail order isNOT the best person to go to for Ecommerce advice. Just likea web designer trying to create a site that will sell andnot just look good, with no marketing experience, a designerwho doesn't know Ecommerce is going to be hard-pressed tojuggle all the components that must fit together seamlesslyand attractively to construct a truly effective Ecommercesite.The Most Common Mistakes?I've had clients come to me who have been provided ashopping cart by their web host but who then have purchasedanother cart, not realizing they already have one. They'veset themselves up with real time processing and thenpurchased a terminal even though they will never swipe onecard. They've had SSL enabled on their web host server eventhough it's provided at their payment gateway. I have beenon the sympathetic end of many, many more sad tales fromearnest folks who have told me their own personal accountsof throwing hard-earned money away on these kinds ofmistakes.Why? Cutting through all the technical jargon, it's allbecause they simply didn't understand how each componentcan, should, and must work in conjunction with one another.Ecommerce can appear simple (well, almost) once youunderstand how all the components work together. A merchantaccount allows you to accept credit cards, your web hostshows your website to the world, your shopping cart helpsyour customers order easily and real-time processingprocesses the orders in real-time and approved transactionsare credited to your merchant account. All are independentcomponents but they all function together to make Ecommercework. Find a designer or webmaster who can bring all theseelements together on your site & watch Ecommerce work foryou.
About the Author
Lisa Schmeckpeper of LRS Marketingand published in their free newsletter, Website SuccessMonthly. To receive a free copy of this informative e-zinejust send email to subscribe@websitesuccessmonthly.comor visit their website at www.lrsmarketing.com.Copyright © 2000 [LRS Marketing].
© 2006 - All Rights Reserved.
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Ecommerce Web Hosting: All you need to knowGone are the days when the Internet was only for the geek labs and university libraries. With the emergence of accessible connectivity and affordable technology, ecommerce and online business are not futuristic concepts. Websites like Amazon and Ebay are the prime examples of successful online business ventures.If you are planning to start your online business or an ecommerce website, you need to be careful about where you host your website. There are two things that are very important to run an ecommerce website: a well-designed, content-rich website and a host that supports seamless hosting. Remember that your ecommerce host is the backbone of your business. Imagine what would happen if there are hundreds of customers eager to pay you and your website is down or certain sections are inaccessible. Or for that matter, some mischievous hackers steals your important customer and sales database and wrecks havoc with your business. Choosing an ecommerce or an online business web host is not as simple as choosing a web host for a normal website.As it happens with any brick and mortar business, you need to take many things into account before choosing your ecommerce web host. How many other online business websites are they already hosting? What has been their track record till now? What do the other ecommerce entrepreneurs think of them? What all tools do they provide when you purchase their ecommerce web hosting package? Along with these, let us discuss in points what makes a host good for your ecommerce or online business website.THE HOSTING PLATFORM FOR YOUR ECOMMERCE WEBSTIEIf you yourself are not developing/coding your website then your developer should be able to advise you what business hosting platform you require for your website. You may need Windows environment or Unix/Linux combination according to your website's development environment and tools implementation. For example, if your developer is an experienced ASP (active server pages) programmer, he/she would prefer a Windows web hosting environment, but if he/she prefers PHP, then you'll have to go for Linux/Unix business web hosting. Although different people have different issues with both the web hosting types, it all depends on personal preferences.THE UPTIME OF YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS WEBSITEThis is the bane of countless webmasters. Millions in revenues are lost because when customers arrive at the websites, the ecommerce websites are down or some of the critical pages are not available. The customers arrive with the intention of making a purchase but there is no facility available...this is the worst nightmare for an ecommerce entrepreneur or a business person.Make sure your ecommerce web host manages parallel servers so that
if one server goes down, the others can take over. Your business web host should give you the guaranteed security of your critical data.THE BANDWIDTH OF YOUR ECOMMERCE WEB HOSTAn ecommerce website requires lots of traffic in order to generate business because, as it happens with every business in this world, not every visitor is a buyer or a customer. 10 or 20 people do business if 1000s of visitors come to your website. You have to make provision for lots of traffic, and that too, targeted traffic.THE STORAGE SPACE OF YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS WEB HOSTING PACKAGEEcommerce websites take up more space compared to normal, non-commercial or semi-commercial websites. First of all, you need an online database to maintain comprehensive inventory details. Then, you may have tens of flash files or hundreds of image files if your buyers would like to view the images or if they want to go through some sort of an online catalog. Keep your future server space requirements in mind while negotiating for an ecommerce hosting package.THE NUMBER OF EMAIL ACCOUNTS YOUR ECOMMERCE WEB HOST OFFERSSome business web hosts offer a limited number of POP3 email accounts that you can manage through software like Outlook and Firefox and some offer an unlimited number. Some don't provide a POP3 email account at all and you need to manage all your emails through a web-based interface. Make sure what your email requirements are going to be and go for an ecommerce web hosting package accordingly.OTHER TOOLS WITH YOUR ECOMMERCE WEB HOSTING PACKAGE* Some other tools you may want to check out are: Autoresponders: most ecommerce hosts these days provide free autoresponders. * Multiple FTP accounts: You may need multiple FTP accounts if you have a big team of programmers. * FrontPage extensions: FrontPage is shipped with lots tools for an easy and fast assemblage of a basic ecommerce website but these tools need some extensions installed on the server. If you are getting your business website developed using FrontPage, you'll need the extensions available on the server of the web host. * Secure Socket Layer (SSL): SSL can be used to collect sensitive data from your site visitors, to ensure that your emails are not intercepted online, and to provide a sense of security for your customers. * Shopping cart software: Some business web hosting packages are shift with a shopping cart. About the Author
Rodel Garcia is a freelance programmer and web developer. Owner and webmaster of http://web-hosting-service-directory.com/ecommerce-web-hosting.html
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eCommerce Web Site Building: Where Do I Start?An article discussing the details on what tools, skills, and services you might need to start an ecommerce business.
Building a web site isn't something that is really cut and dry. There's a huge variety of products and services that can either help you get your web site where you want it or simply confuse you. It's also important that you make the right choices upfront so that you don't end up having to restructure your whole web site because of some problem in your design layout. The level of time investment neccessary for mastery in a lot of these software packages can range from little to a VERY significant amount. Because of this I feel it's important to be lead in the "right" direction to make sure you don't spend time in the wrong areas, or learning some software that might not be all that useful for you later on (coughs Frontpage coughs).
Where you should start greatly depends on what you plan on attempting to do, and how deep you're going to dive in. For a moderately professional, clean looking web site without a lot of automation or intensive animated graphics you can probably get by with some basic knowledge of html, ability with a good WYSIWYG editor, and an image editting program. On the other hand, if you're someone that's looking to build something that will really wow your audience then you might consider spending some major time and developing some animation skills with a program like Macromedia Flash. I personally always spring for what I believe will bring me the greatest amount of profit with a minimal amount of effort, and because of this I usually end up spending all of my time diving in deeper with ONLY my WYSIWYG HTML editor, and my image editor.
What is a "WYSIWYG" editor?
A WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor is what allows you to get by with minimal knowledge of HTML. Yes, that means you don't have to know EVERYTHING about HTML to have a decent looking website. When you use a WYSIWYG editor it interprets what you're doing (inserting an image for example) as being a certain series of HTML tags with attributes, and does it for you... Thus, what you see on your screen is what you get. Instead of seeing a bunch of HTML code in text format, you'll mostly see what will actually show up in your browser once your web site is up WHILE you're making it. I highly recommend using the latest version of dreamweaver -- it is well-known as one of the best HTML editors by general consensus. Dreamweaver's interface is very friendly, has a built in FTP client, and is specifically built to be flexible enough to suit both the coder and the everyday amatuer webmaster.
Image editing? What do I need that for?
Okay, let's be realistic here: If you're going to make a professional appearing web site it's important that you can make some basic, decent looking graphics. There's a lot of graphics problems that can truly get the job done, but as far as power and flexibility goes I recommend Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop definitely takes some time getting used to, but in the end it's VERY rewarding. I've ended up using my knowledge of Photoshop to make not only graphics for multiple web sites, but also touched up portraits, made business cards, flyers, and other online advertisments such as banners. Infact, I've used it for everything except animation... But it also comes with Adobe Imageready which is very good with
animation. This software is amazing, and if you're going to learn ANY image editing software I recommend you start with Photoshop because of it's widerange of overall... usefulness!
Let's get me some sales!
Kick off your new web site you've gotten up from your knowledge of webmastering and image editing with a few new sales... Sounds like a plan? Well a great way to do that quickly is with pay-per-click advertising. BUT WAIT! Doesn't that cost money? Well... Yes. But with the tools brought to us by some of the biggest pay-per-click advertisers out there we should be able to make a good evaluation of how much profit we're going to make without much investment upfront.
The big question behind pay-per-click advertising is whether or not it's worth the cash when you can simply get traffic from regular search engine ranking (otherwise known as organic traffic). Afterall, there are plenty of companies out there that promise to help get you all the traffic you need through optimizing your web site for organic ranking. The answer to this question is quite simple: profit is profit. Through conversion tracking tools such as those offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing and Google Adwords anyone can calculate exactly what their profit is after cost of PPC advertising is taken out. In my opinion, Google Adwords has the most user-friendly interface among the PPC advertisers. Google Adword's interface makes it very easy to see which keywords are pulling you in the most sales, and which ones aren't even worth your advertising money.
Let us not forget, however, that in order to make those conversions we're going to be needing a shopping cart! There's a lot of diverse software packages out there you can use, but I've been using Mal's E-Commerce Free shopping cart for a number of years with great success. The cart's server is hosted on their machines so that means you not only get away with not having to pay for the software itself, but you get out of having to buy an SSL security ticket too! Nothing's a better bargain than free, eh?
Getting those sales leads you've been building up to BUY!
Once you've scored a few sales it would probably be a good idea to start using some kind of lead management services. I highly recommend the use of autoresponders for this purpose. Autoresponders are, essentially, a newsletter sign-up that allows you to strategically determine what you want to send each lead after a certain alotted amount of time. For example, let's say someone visits your web site and you offer them a free newsletter. If you were selling an ebook on some very complicated topic, you might consider sending them only information on the most basic concepts at first to get them interested. Slowly but surely, you can turn those visitors that might have left your web site and never have returned into some serious revenue!As far as autoresponders go, I highly recommend the use of Aweber. Their customer service is superb (seriously, these guys really know their stuff!) and can be contacted at any point during the business day via online chat or phone. They also offer tons of free information, and guides on making the most of their services. Check out their month long free trial at http://www.getaweber.com/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jacob Richards currently runs a website on the topic of building an ecommerce web site.
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Ecommerce Web Sites: If You Build It They Will Come - Or Will They?"If you build it they will come" is one of the memorable lines from the movie "Field of Dreams", one of my favorite movies, by-the-way. An ordinary guy had a dream about building a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield. He carried through with his dream, and the players came, and the fans followed.
Many people today have the dream of building their own ecommerce internet business, their own "Cyberspace Field of Dreams." The problem is, in most cases, there is nothing to distinguish their web site from the thousands of other ecommerce web sites on the internet. They built it, but "no one is coming."
The guy in the movie built something truly unique, something that really stood out. What could stand out more than a baseball field in the midst of a cornfield? If you want people to come to your "field of dreams", you must make it truly unique just as the guy in the movie did.
The guy in the movie worked hard building a baseball field that he, the players, and especially the fans, could all be proud of. That's what you must do with your web site! Hard work paid off for him, and it will pay off for you as well. Bear in mind too that the work doesn't end the
minute the field is finished. The next phase starts as we work to let people know about our "field", and why they should visit, participate, and buy.
It pays to do it right. Don't make the mistake of doing it halfway. Don't just build an "infield", build the whole ballpark, and make it a fun and interesting place for the "fans" to visit.
Make your dream stand out from the crowd! Your dream is yours, it's unique! Put your personal stamp, your own "personal touch", on it. After it's built, keep it "mowed and watered" and make it a place that people will want to come back to time-after-time.
So go, create your own "field of dreams" online, but know that when it's built, you need to nourish and maintain it, and the rewards will follow.About the Author
Lewis Poteet is a web designer/eCommerce business owner.
Web Hosting, Merchant Accounts, eCommerce Solutions at http://www.ecomandmore.com/.
My eCommerce blog is at http://www.eComAndMore.com/blog.
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Ecommerce Website Development Brings More People To Your BusinessIf you have a business and you want to tell more people about your business and what service you offer to the public or what product you're selling. Putting your business on the Internet today offers you the chance to reach millions of people everyday and it's as easy as finding the right website host who will work with you to get your web page up and running so you can start making more money. Millions of people everyday move through the internet to the merchant's web site. From there, a person decides they want to purchase something, so they move to the online transaction server gathers, saves, and encrypts all the information the person gives. Once this person has placed his or her order, the information moves through a private gateway to a Processing Network, where the issuing and acquiring banks complete or deny the transaction. This generally takes place in no more than 5-7 seconds. There are many different payment systems available to accommodate the varied processing needs of Ecommerce website development merchants, from those who have a few orders a day to those who process thousands of transactions daily. With the addition of Secure Socket Layer technology, E-Commerce is also a very safe way to complete transactions. There are several basic steps involved in becoming E-Commerce Enabled. Getting an Internet Merchant Bank Account Web Hosting Obtaining a Digital Certificate Finding a Provider of Online Transactions Creating or Purchasing a Shopping Cart Software You want to be able to accept credit cards over the internet; you will have to apply to your bank for an Internet Merchant Bank Account. This can be relatively easy or somewhat
difficult, depending on which country you live in and what bank you are with. In the US , this is a fairly simple procedure. Many banks offer Internet Merchant Accounts, and most Online Transaction Providers will support them. See your bank for details. Since the vast majority of Online Transaction Providers are located in the US and are restricted in their ability to interact with banks outside their own country, international merchants have very little choice. An international merchant has to find a way to get a US merchant account, embark on the equally difficult task of finding a local Online Transaction Provider, or utilize one of the few companies that services the international market. Also, many banks outside the US have very restrictive policies regarding internet accounts. Luckily, the situation is improving, and most Online Transaction Providers will help you with this if you get in touch with them. In the ratings section, I have included information on which providers give international service. Here are some additional issues to keep in mind when you apply for a Merchant Bank Account: A US merchant account can take up to a month to come through. If you already have a merchant bank account, you will probably also need to upgrade it to an Internet account. Ensure that your bank accepts Internet merchant accounts and has credit card processors that can connect to FDC, Paymentech or CyberCash. Your account must be able to handle Card Not Present transactions. About the author:Leeanna is an expert author who writes for Ecommerce Website Development
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Ecommerce website overview accepting payments onlineAccording to searchmerchants.com, there are an infinite number of choices for accepting payments online. You can accept online payments from an ECommerce Web site in two general ways. 1) Through your own online merchant account 2) Through a third party online payment processor.Accepting Payments Online through your own Internet Merchant Account Accepting payments online via a merchant account puts you in control and limits your reliability on outside payment acceptance services. Besides an Internet merchant account, you will need shopping cart software, a store or site host, a processor, and a secure payment gateway. You may fit these pieces together in several different ways. On one end of the spectrum, you can choose the provider for each piece individually. On the other end, you may choose a turnkey solution, where a single provider has completed the puzzle for you. There is no single best solution. Your choice will depend on your particular needs
and experience. Among other considerations, you should factor in your own comfort with the technologies, customer convenience, providers' service levels, available technical support, reliability, costs, and time commitment involved. Accepting Payments Online through a Third Party Online Payment ProcessorIf you are not ready to set up your own online merchant account and/or you want to offer additional online payment options, you can turn to a variety of third party online payment processors. Third party online payment processors provide a way to accept payments online without the extra cost and obligation of a merchant account. To compensate, transaction fees and/or discount rates are significantly higher than for merchant accounts. About the author:For more information on merchant services,please visit http://www.paynetsystems.com/
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ECOMMERCE: YOUR OPPORTUNITIES ARE UNLIMITEDPeter Drucker believes ecommerce will be to the InformationRevolution what the railroads were to the Industrial Revolution.* To oversimplify, the Industrial Revolution was a time in whichtools were produced that replaced people in the manufacture ofgoods. In the first thirty years, all was devoted to producingknown products with machines. While there were drastic social changes with the massiveshift from rural to urban living, there was little change in theproducts produced and purchased. They only became more readilyavailable at ever more modest cost.Only later did the Industrial Revolution produce somethingnew - the railroads. For the first time in history, people couldreadily move great distances inexpensively. (Hauling freightcame much later.) Railroads brought a thirty year boom inEurope, and an even longer one in the United States. While manyother parts of the world got started somewhat later, the boom didnot end for them until the outbreak of World War I.What Will Arise From The Information Revolution?The parallels between the Industrial and InformationRevolutions are astonishing. Thus far computers, the Web, andinformation technology have created nothing dramatically new. They have merely changed the ways in which information isgathered, managed and reported. And to some extent, the way inwhich consumers purchase goods. Computers themselves have changed the way in which productsare manufactured, including their design. And a few new spinoffshave come to the fore. But there has not been anythingrevolutionary in any of this. Nothing yet has had the impact ofrailroads on the whole of the social fabric.If Drucker is correct, ecommerce will have an impactequivalent to that of the railroads earlier. Thus far the Webhas produced less change in the way business is done than orecars running on steel rails effected mining. In short, the realdrama and excitement is yet to be revealed. Given easy access to the Web, you and I have been invited tojoin in. For myself, I don't want to miss a beat.A Radical Shift Is Upon UsThere appears to be an awesome and exciting shift emerging inthe way business is done. There are those who feel that if it'sgood for business, it's good. Period. I hold a different view:If it's not good for people, it's not good.Many with a business orientation are likely to abandon mythinking here. Those convinced people are sheep born to beshorn certainly will. But whatever your view, enormous changesin the way in which business is done are rushing down upon us. Companies who do not embrace them, will be swept away intohistory.What Will Customer Service Come To Mean?For example, automated telephone systems and elevator musicwill fade away, as will the companies that cling to suchbarriers. People will not be content much longer, with clutchinga phone to their ear, trying to accomplish some other task, whilewaiting for the answer they need right now."The customer comes first" will remain the driving forcebehind all successful businesses. Today, such phrases mumbled byall are generally mere tokenism. Tomorrow they will come to havean entirely new meaning. Contemporary companies provide such services at theirconvenience. The endless round of voice mail and recordings in which busy people respond only to leave yet another messagewill
come to a screeching halt. Successful companies will provide support when a customer requests it. And they willdo so quickly.Conglomerates May Become ExtinctPeople have had enough of businesses concerned about theirbottom line. They are becoming increasingly concerned abouttheir own needs. They are even now turning away from those whofail to recognize this. Business success in the future willdepend heavily upon effective customer support providedimmediately upon request.Conglomerates may be dinosaurs, so huge, so driven by theirown inertia, they will disintegrate back into the smaller partsfrom which they were created. Such companies talk of customerrelationships, but often do all possible to avoid any semblanceof one-on-one customer support. Smaller firms can be responsive. Those who are, will outperform those who are not.I am excited about the future for Cyberpreneurs. They willunderstand they need their customers more than the customer needsthem. Untroubled by the constraints of contemporary businesspractices, they will see responsiveness to customers as anessential fundamental of their business. This characteristic ofitself will give them a competitive edge over large businessesthat do not.The Future Is Yours For The TakingOne by one, creative people will consider ways in whichconglomerates produce and deliver products. They will thendiscover a way in which they can do so more effectively. Themuch larger company will hardly be aware of the tiny loss inrevenue. But given many such losses, the bottom line will beginto erode.Completely new business models will emerge. They will seemso right, so perfectly attuned to both the needs of businessesand consumers, we will wonder why they did not appear muchsooner.There will be a return to a "Rural," rather than an "Urban,"pattern of living, one independent of where you choose to live. In this "reversal," there will be a return to individuals beingvalued. Once again, as was so prior to the IndustrialRevolution, people will be both producer and consumer, making a significant contribution in both roles.The Real "New World"I continue to hear the Web is not real. That it is nothingmore than herds of impulses stampeding about on copper or opticalcables. What is reality? I will leave this to the philosophers. But there is no question in my mind; the Web is real. A newreality, at that.You can feel the awesome power and unlimited resourcessurging from the collective dynamic of millions and millions of people the world over. People who are real. Our interactionwith each other is real, and now unlimited by nationalboundaries. The Web itself is but a tool. Not unlike thetelephone, but magnitudes more powerful. It facilitates theability to interrelate, to communicate one-on-one. And we willdo so in ways not yet imagined.Welcome to today's "New World."(Taken from "Your Path To Success" to be released in September, 2001)__________________*"Beyond the Information Revolution" by Peter F. Drucker, "TheAtlantic Monthly," Oct 1999, p47-57.
About the Author
Bob McElwainWant to build a winning site? Improve one you already have? Fix one that's busted? Get ANSWERS. Subscribeto "STAT News" now! mailto:join-stat@lyris.dundee.netWeb marketing and consulting since 1993Site: Phone: 209-742-6349
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Informative Articles
eConnect: eCommerce development for Microsoft Great Plains
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has several options to enable web ordering. Traditionally Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise had eOrder – this is ASP pages based ordering application, enabling you to place or retrieve your Sales Order Processing (SOP) Sales Orders over the web. There were several drawbacks however with eOrder. You should be the customer in Great Plains company database to be able placing the orders. Also if you were planning to customize eOrder – you could only do cosmetic style changes only – if you wanted to alter scripts on the ASP pages – then you would have very serious eOrder upgrade issues. Upgrade simply wipes out your custom scripts and you had to reapply your customization to new version enriched ASP pages. Instead of following the way to move eOrder to ASPX or .Net platform – MBS introduced eConnect, enabling web designer to “connect” eCommerce site to Great Plains backend. This is very elegant module and solution, however we are hearing a lot of complaints from developers on eConnect restrictions.• SOP Invoice posting. It is not enabled in eConnect. However you should probably first understand the architecture of Microsoft Great Plains. Order takers supposed to enter Sales Order and submit it (place in the batch and save) to the manager for approval (taking off transfer/print/post holds). eConnect enables you to create or update Great Plains objects, but it doesn’t allow you to process them (post) – this would open a gap in the security/approval cycle.• Order Transfer. Again – this is similar problem to the invoice posting. Both Order and Invoice could be subject to holds and approvals. eCommerce logic might need partial or full order transfer to invoice or even backorder, based on the item availability status.Why would you then need to purchase eConnect? Maybe just go ahead and program the connection in SQL stored procedures? The answer is – eConnect allows you to allocate items in
Great Plains Inventory Control module. It would take you a lot of time (if you are new to Great Plains tables structure and never coded in Great Plains Dexterity). Plus eConnect allows you to create and update customer record in Great Plains – this is however relatively simple to imitate in the stored procedure.Then what is the solution?• Do not allow order transfer and posting through eCommerce. This is probably the best advise we could give you – just create orders, or invoices, leave them to the Great Plains user to approve and post. However in some cases it is absolutely critical and required• Look for Invoice posting stored proc on the market. You are not the first and not the last one to face this dilemma – somebody already has it implemented (SOP10200, SOP10100, SOP30200, SOP30300 tables)• Microsoft Small Business Financials or former Microsoft Small Business Manager. In your case – you need the whole set of stored procedures to enable eCommerceGreat Plains version: more likely you are using eConnect for Great Plains Standard or Great Plains Professional 7.5, 8.0 and in the future 8.5 or 9.0Good luck in e-Commerce developing and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.comAndrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Minnesota, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com/ ), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: andrewk@albaspectrum.com
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Evaluating Vendors of Ecommerce Fulfillment Services
Once your website has secured an order, you have to fulfill it. While the fulfillment of digital goods is usually handled online, the delivery of physical goods is handled in a "brick-and-mortar" world.
When choosing a fulfillment company ( http://www.4th-media.net/order_fulfillment/decision_making.php ) for your ecommerce operation, you need to evaluate both fulfillment services and ecommerce services for order processing.
Evaluating Fulfillment Services
Fulfillment services includes receiving, inventorying, warehousing, delivery, record-keeping and customer inquiries. You have options to outsource part of or all of fulfillment services to a third party.
Receiving - This is the process that fulfillment vendors acquire goods from suppliers and the accuracy of services starts at the receiving.
Inventorying - The skills of inventory management directly impact the quality and cost of fulfillment. If inventory is out of stock, you may lose customers. If inventory level is too high, it may increase the cost of inventory.
Warehousing - Physical goods are stored in a warehouse and valuable items are usually stored in secure storage. While fulfillment companies have their warehouses and distribution centers, small businesses can store goods in their garages or basements.
Shipping - For order fulfillment, goods are delivered to customers in various shipping methods - ground, overnight, etc. at fulfillment centers. Customers specify shipping methods when they place their orders and the fulfillment companies may adjust the shipping methods of the delivery.
Return and Order Inquiry - Customer
Service Reps at fulfillment companies can handle return and refund for their clients. Most ecommerce sites allow customers to view their orders and status of fulfillment online.
Record Keeping and Reporting - The ability to track all information pertinent to the order fulfillment (from inventory items, customers, orders to shipping) will help businesses to gain insights into the behaviors of their customers. Fulfillment companies and large organizations usually install inventory and fulfillment management software to automate the processes. Small business owners can find shareware for less than $100.
Evaluating Ecommerce Services
E-commerce fulfillment vendors are usually fulfillment vendors that provide ecommerce services related to fulfillment.
Online Catalog - Ecommerce fulfillment vendors can either develop online storefronts for you or integrate your online storefronts into their backend fulfillment system.
Online Payment Processing - Online storefronts from ecommerce fulfillment providers should have the ability to process payments online in credit card, electronic check, and purchase order. Using a fulfillment company, you can accept credit card online without a online merchant account (http://www.4th-media.net/online_payment/online_merchant_account.php ).
Copyright © 2005, Bruce Zhang
About The Author
Bruce Zhang had worked a few years in distribution and fulfillment industry. He contributes to Order Fulfillment ( http://www.4th-media.net/order_fulfillment/ ) section of an ecommerce ( http://www.4th-media.net/ ) website.
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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 store cannot do business with a cashier, an online business would falter without a reliable eCommerce merchant account, sales can be lost and credibility lost.
But what is an eCommerce merchant account, exactly?
An Ecommerce Merchant Account Is The Heart Of Your Business.
An eCommerce merchant account can be likened to the human heart which makes living a reality by pumping blood to every vital organ of the body. An eCommerce merchant account does the same thing for an online enterprise. The operations of an Internet venture depend on the profit that can be made, and an eCommerce merchant account makes this possible.
An eCommerce merchant account can be availed of by choosing the many services that can be found in the World Wide Web. But bear in mind that not all eCommerce merchant accounts are built alike. Some eCommerce merchant accounts are simply better than others.
Choosing The Right Ecommerce Merchant Account For Your Business' Needs.
There are certain considerations which you must pay attention to when choosing the right eCommerce merchant account for your needs. Let us take a look at them so that we may be guided in determining the most appropriate eCommerce merchant account worthiest of our investments.
* Applicable fees.
Some eCommerce merchant accounts charge a monthly rate. Some eCommerce merchant accounts charge a onetime fee. With this regard, your choice of an eCommerce merchant account would depend on how much you are capable of spending.
* Credibility. Ecommerce merchant accounts are your partners for profit. As such, you should select the eCommerce merchant account with a proven history of reliability. You wouldn't want to entrust your payments to an eCommerce merchant account that would just crumble as soon as you sign up, right?
* Coverage. The perfect eCommerce merchant account should be able to process payments from popular payment sources. This means that such an eCommerce merchant account should be able to accommodate users who would pay with major credit cards. Additionally, it would be ideal if such an eCommerce merchant account would also be able to process payments from other alternative online payment schemes, like PayPal, Stormpay, E-Gold and the likes.
An eCommerce merchant account could also be likened to a ship that would bring your to the Promised Land of online success. The waters may be rough, but if your eCommerce merchant account is made of sturdy stuff, you will reach your destination with flying colors.About the Author
Jeff Usher researches and writes articles on all aspects of Internet Marketing and eCommerce. For further information on the subject of this article please visit:- http://www.more-merchant-account.info/
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Eyes on your eCommerce WebsiteCopyright 2005 Richard KeirIn a recent article I talked about Google AdSense placement based on eye-tracking research. However, research by The Poynter Institute, Eyetools and the Estlow Center for Journalism and New Media has a lot to say about more than where to put an AdSense block.Designing an eCommerce site is more than making it pretty. You have certain desired actions you're looking for from your visitors. You have specific things you want to be sure they see and hopefully act on. Now, there's some research that can guide your design. Certainly you want your site to look professional, but you want it to do its job as effectively as possible too.People are surprisingly alike in some of their basic visual behavior. It's been argued that our evolution as hunter-gatherers has shaped much of our ingrained visual patterns. Whether you buy that particular argument or not there are still important commonalities.Typical behavior on initially viewing a site is to do a fast scan of the entire visible screen with short focusing periods around the areas that attract attention. First pass tends to include headlines, the page logo, photo captions, subheads, links and menu items. And the big hot spot is the upper left corner of the screen. I haven't seen any definitive research on whether these patterns also hold for users with native languages that read any way except left to right, but I'm assuming most of you are building sites for left-to-right readers.The clear message is that your most important real estate is in that upper left area and that the lower right (particularly if it's below the fold) is the least likely to receive much attention.How you use your words in a headline, paragraph or link can make a huge difference in your success at capturing a visitor's attention. The concept is called frontloading. Wherever you can make sure your critical terms appear at the very beginning of headlines, links and other text. It's still got to make sense, but the first few words are far more likely to be at least scanned then the middle or end of a headline or link or the inside of a paragraph.The exact same words can have drastically different capture rates depending on their order. You want to maximize the probability that the visitor will read a whole headline or link and then act on it. So put the most significant, enticing words first - the ones that are the best grabbers and convey the subject immediately.You don't have a lot of time to mess about. It's been reported that a typical surfer may be off your page in well under 14 seconds unless something grabs his or
her attention fast. Remember the upper-left? You want to do an especially good job with headlines, link and text in that area.Dropcaps (where the first capitalized letter in a line is in a different, often unusual, font and extends below the normal text base-line), bolding, font changes and color changes can also serve as strong eye-attractors. If you try these techniques you need to be careful that you don't overuse them (your page will look like a mess), and it's extremely important that you test whether or not they're actually doing what you want. Annoying as it may be, running tests is the only way to make sure it's an improvement.Do you use lists? Have you made sure that they're in-line and as close to the left margin as possible? Don't ever use an outline format with multiple indents. People scan down, not across and they tend to scan close to the left margin. Indent too much and it might as well be invisible.An interesting testing result that I read somewhere said that somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of site visitors don't even see centered headlines. Sure they look nice and a lot of sites use them, but if they're totally missed by even 3 percent of your visitors, you're paying a major price to look good. Suggestion? Put those headlines up against your left margin.This also applies to links. Put those links up against the left margin, not inside a paragraph, centered or off to the right. And if you want any clicks on a link, never put it in that nearly unseen lower right area. Might as well just leave it off your page.How about indented paragraphs? Now there's a great way to start an argument. Some argue that it attracts the eye, it's different, few sites use it so you stand out. Others insist that you're far better off staying left justified and frontloading each paragraph. There's only one way to resolve it for yourself, yeah, run some tests and see what works with your visitors on your site.The bottom line is that once you get beyond the basics of placement, frontloading, and left-justified links and headlines, you need to test if you want to fully maximize the effectiveness of your website design. I wish there were a simpler answer too, but in the end only testing will tell you what works best for your site.
About the Author
Richard writes, teaches, trains and consults on business and professional presentations and eCommerce related matters. Visit http://www.building-ecommerce-websites.com for more information on eCommerce sites and eCommerce site building - and http://www.building-ecommerce-websites.com/articles for more eCommerce articles.
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For Your ECommerce SuccessHave you always dream of owning your own Business and working in the comfort of your own home ?As human we all want to succeed. We all want the best from life. We all want to be wealthy, to have a great house, to travel around the globe. A great wife and beautiful and healthy kids.To have all of this you don't need to be a genius, have luck or to rob a bank. All you need is that you use the power of faith wich means confidence. Confidence in yourself.You also need knowledge. Like the adage: "Knowledge is Power". But you must ACT. Knowledge without action is useless. It's like having a recipe of a cake, without actually making the cake. So to succeed you need to know what you want and after that act on it.HOW TO SUCCEED The first ultimate start to succeed with your home business is to write your goals and have a business plan. Don't wait for everything to be exactly right to start...THERE WILL NEVER BE A "PERFECT" TIME! Start now, with whatever you have. The things you need will come to you as you work toward your goal. Let's talk face to face there is no easy way to succeed with your home business. Talk to people who succeed in business like George Walton of wal-mart or other like Donald Trump. They will tell you that it takes lot's of vision and determination. You have to be a man of action to really succeed. Like i said there is no easy road. But of course you can succeed like me. You have to be persistant. You have to build your business brick by brick. One step at a time. You start at the base of the ladder first. Everyone who as succeeded in life have start at the base. Thats a fact of life. Like the man you are today, start as a baby. Even the most dynamic, highest-earning entrepreneurs in the industry took MONTHS to begin seeing an income of any real significance. And the real wealth, the $100,000+ income we all strive for, took an average of almost 3 YEARS to achieve! Do you think ANY of these gentlemen don’t think the ends justified the means? Do you think for an instant that the months and years invested hasn’t been rewarded a thousand times at least? You don't even have to think about it, do you? So now you know ! It takes an average of 3 YEARS to build a significant income on the internet. ONE STEP AT A TIMEEvery house is build brick by brick. So is your home business ! Of course we all want to go faster. But we have to start at the base first. It's a basic law. We are subject to time and circumstances. We have to learn. We have to experiment. With learning and experimenting we get experience. And with experience we become an expert. We have to set goals. The goals will guide us one step at a time. It will will pave the way to our success. You cannot go on a road trip without knowing your destination. You need a map. You need time. You need to rest. You need to eat. And sometimes there is roadblock. When we hit a dead end we turn back and take another road. But we keep going to our destination. It's the same thing with your home business. There is bumps and jumps and sometimes we crash. But we always keep our eyes to the goal. That is what give us the drive. It's our paradise. The goal become our existence. And it is. By never, never giving up you will reach your goal one day. One mile at a time. It's impossible that you won't reach it. Unless you die. That's the only secrets to success. One client at a time. One step at a time. 100 client at a time. Until you reach thousand like me and make your $100,000 a year and +. To make $100,000 a year, start by making $100 per month. After $200 a month. And after $500 a month. And after $5000. And so on and so on. Day by day, your on your way to succeed, week by week your on your way to succeed, month after month your on you way to succeed, year after year your on your way to succeed. Until you reach your goal in 3 YEARS. (Maybe less, Maybe
More.) We reap what we sow, but the harvest is never in the same season as the planting! Today you are planting...and will be at least for the next several months. Your harvest will come in time. Be persistent. Be patient. Think long term. Take action every day, (no matter how small) to build your business and you cannot fail. MY 11 SECRETS TO SUCCEED WITH YOUR HOME BUSINESS1. Your first ultimate start must include written goals and plans. Formulate a plan of weekly activity and be persistent in following it—if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Sticking to your plan is essential for success. 2.Don't wait for everything to be exactly right to start...THERE WILL NEVER BE A "PERFECT" TIME! Start now, with whatever you have. The things you need will come to you as you work toward your goal. You cannot become successful in anything when you're trying to do too many things at once. 3. Treat your business as a serious, full-time business, and it will become one. Think of your first six months primarily as a training period. Don't expect large earnings until after you've educated yourself. 4. Be patient. You'll work the hardest your first six months or so and get compensated the least. Big incomes never happen overnight. They only come after you've properly shown your affiliates how to duplicate your efforts. Always be ENTHUSIASTIC!! Don't give yourself unrealistic expectations. 5. Don't complain to your upline leaders. Realize that what you accomplish is mainly in your hands, no one else's. Also realize that, when you see a problem, 95% of the time there are factors you are unaware of. Don't jump to conclusions. When you have a problem, present it in a concise letter as positive, constructive criticism. Offer solutions if possible, too. Not only will this approach get you better results, but you'll be building your relationship with your upline instead of tearing it down. 6. Be organized, but don't allow the act of organizing keep you from the most important element of a successful business: MARKETING. Market and promote your business EVERY DAY! Don't let little problems upset you. Concentrate on the many positives...and the "big picture." 7. Always remember that the only thing that will never change is that there will always be changes. Don't let changes upset you. Know that you will have to deal with changes and other obstacles, both big and small, continually. Be prepared to be flexible. 8. Don't be a negative thinker and don't let the negative attitudes of others (even if they're family members, friends, or peers) influence you. All the great men and women in history had to overcome the naysayers who said it couldn't be done—and then went out and did it. Think for yourself! 9. Don't be derailed by "perfection paralysis." Realize that you won't be able to do everything perfectly. Do the best job you can, then move on to the next project. Keep learning and keep moving ahead. 10. Read books (such as Napoleon Hill's classic, "Think And Grow Rich") that will convince you how powerful your mind really is. Develop the tremendous potential in you (that we all have) that has never been tapped! 11. Don't quit. The only way to fail is if you give up. Remember always..."You are what you think you are" Copyright © Michel Richer PERMISSIONS TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in its entirety free of charge, electronically or in print, provided it appears with the included copyright and author’s resource box with live website link. Courtesy of: http://hombyz.com
About the Author
Michel Richer is the Business Manager and Webmaster of http://Hombyz.comWith over 10 years experience in home based internet business and a SOLID REPUTATION in the industry. He is dedicated to helping you SUCCEED on the Internet. You can take a look at his website at: http://hombyz.com for Your HOME BUSINESS SUCCESS !!!
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Informative Articles
Getting Started In Ecommerce - Part One
In 2004, Enquiro.com conducted a study of the search behaviors of men vs. women. They found that women spend more time in their searches and at specific sites. The study also revealed that women tend to be more deliberate in reading search results, linger longer at sites and have a greater satisfaction in the overall shopping experience. Another study conducted by iProspect.com revealed that women are more apt to click the paid search advertising because they find it more relevant to their searches than do men (WebProNews - July 14, 2004). What does this mean? It means that if we understand the searching and shopping patterns of our target audience we are better able to create marketing strategies to effectively drive traffic to our sites. Don’t yet have a website? Electronic commerce or ecommerce is used to describe doing business over the Internet. Selling products and services to customers over the Internet can be accomplished a number of ways and various levels of sophistication. The first thing you need is a professional Web site with its own domain name. You need to design and promote a Web site. You'll need access to expertise that can regularly design and maintain this Web site for you. A good website which gets visitors to return is constantly evolving and therefore, require ongoing attention. There are thousands of resources available for you to take advantage of, many of which are free. You can surf the Internet for what you need or you can simply visit www.WECAI.org to see the many resources we have listed. We have resources for guests and if you are a member we have even more resources to help you get started. In fact, you can search our domain registry and purchase your own unique domain name at www.wecaidomains.com. Developing a business over the Internet requires many of the same major activities as starting any other business. You need a business plan, something to sell such as a product or service; you need customers and you may even need financial backing to get started. In addition, you need to market products to your customers, exceptional customer service practices and
many other resources just as you do with traditional bricks and mortar enterprises. They may include inventory, fulfillment, shipping banking relationships and more. Your store will need a "merchant" account, or the ability to process your customers' credit card transactions over the Internet. This includes needing a "secure server," (security certificate such as Versign or Geotrust) so that thieves cannot gain access to your customers credit information. Your merchant processing can be as simple as accepting payments through PayPal or as complex as a custom designed shopping cart system you pay for. Getting a Merchant Account - If you have a good relationship with your bank and they don't require a security deposit this may be your best option for setting up a merchant account. Alternatives to getting a merchant account through your bank are to go through a broker, a fulfillment house, or using third-party billing. For more information on establishing an ecommerce presence check out the e-book entitled: Show Her the Money – The Woman’s ECommerce Handbook for Online Transactions (www.showherthemoney.com). If you are, or become a member of WECAI – www.wecai.org, this resource is yours with your membership. Excerpted from The PMS Principles - Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business - www.pmsprinciples.com - © 2005 - Heidi Richards
About the Author: Heidi Richards is the author of The PMS Principles, Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business and 7 other books. She is also the Founder & CEO of the Women’s ECommerce Association, International http://www.wecai.org/ – an Internet organization that “Helps Women Do Business on the WEB.” Basic Membership is FREE. Ms. Richards can be reached at http://www.heidirichards.com/ or heidi@wecai.org.
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Getting Started In Ecommerce – Part Two
In Part One we talked a little bit about what Ecommerce is, getting a domain name and setting up a merchant account. Ecommerce is more than that, much more. To have a really good online presence that gets people to stop and shop you need a strategy for success. Your strategy must include your USP or Unique Selling Position in the marketplace. What makes you stand out from all the other online entrepreneurs looking for the same type of customers as you? Can you stand out from the competition based on quality, price or benefits? Once you know your USP, you can begin the monumental task of telling the world about your site. A really unique selling position will give you an advantage over all the competition – well that and a lot of planning and investing of your time and money. FOCUS Emphasize the benefits and the results the customer will get from purchasing from you and using your product or service. You can discover the benefits by listing all the features and then converting them to benefits. List everything your product or service offers. For each feature list a relative advantage from the customer’s perspective. You can discover the customer’s perspectives when they buy. Simply ask them, “ Why did you place an order today or use our service?” BE very specific when creating your benefit statements. An example of this is, “You will save $100.00 sells better than “you will save money.” “You will loose 20 pounds in 10 days” sounds better than “you will loose weight.” Rank your benefits in order of importance to the customer. If you have enough of them, use bullet points for emphasis. Emotion sells. People make most buying decisions with their heart and not their head. Paint a picture of the results the customer will get when they purchase from you. “ You will look 20 years younger.” “You will be $100 richer.” Make sure you include a call to action. Want them to make a buying decision today? Give them a reason to do so. Offer a bribe (discount, bonus, something for nothing). Your website must load quickly and function easily. If your site loads slowly people will get impatient and go elsewhere. Do all your links work? Have you tested your order page by running sample orders? Have you tested load time using different connection speeds? You can get a fr*ee analysis by visiting Submitplus.com. Make your website easy to look at and read. I find dark background tend to be more difficult to read than do pale backgrounds.
The overall look of your site should be clean and professional. When we were first creating the Women’s ECommerce Association, International we did everything in-house. Not being truly adept at HTML coding we thought we could just use a simple program to create a professional site. It was okay, but the one we now have is so much better. Why? Because we hired a professional. You can create a website with a good template program. We are using ECommerce Templates to create our new look for WUN Publications. It is simple to use and relatively inexpensive. When it comes to graphics, be conservative. Sites that are laden with graphics and flash tend to take longer to load. If your site takes more than 3 seconds to do so, you will loose many visitors and potential buyers. If you must use graphics, make sure the files sizes used have been reduced as much as your image editing/compression software will allow. View your site using as many different browsers as possible. In addition to Internet Explorer and Netscape, there is Opera, Mozilla, Lynx and those are just the ones that run on Microsoft Windows. WebMonkey has a chart of those supported by Macintosh, Unix/Linux and others. Also, many people will surf with their browser’s graphics switched off. Make sure you know what your site looks like without the graphics and that it is still easy for visitors to surf. One last thought Make sure all your important information is above the fold. If you know that visitors are looking for something specific and you make them scroll down to find it, chances are they won’t. Excerpted from The PMS Principles - Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business - www.pmsprinciples.com - © 2005 - Heidi Richards
About the Author: Heidi Richards is the author of The PMS Principles, Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business and 7 other books. She is also the Founder & CEO of the Women’s ECommerce Association, International http://www.wecai.org/ – an Internet organization that “Helps Women Do Business on the WEB.” Basic Membership is FREE. Ms. Richards can be reached at http://www.heidirichards.com/ or heidi@wecai.org.
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7 Tips To Increase Sales With Your Ecommerce Web SiteEcommerce is just exploding right now on the Net. More and more people are doing their shopping online. Some Internet retailers are even beating out their offline counterparts. So what does this mean to you? It’s important that you are taking full advantage of your web site to get your share of the billions of dollars spent online every year. In this article we are going to cover 7 tips that you can put into practice immediately to increase your sales and revenue with your ecommerce web site.1: IntroductionMake sure to have a brief introduction on the homepage of your web site. Your introduction should be concise and clearly identify the benefits of your visitors shopping at your site.2: NavigationMake sure that your site has clear and easy navigation, such as a visible search box on the top part of your web site, clear categories to browse through, a FAQ page that clearly explains your shipping and return policy, and etc.3: Gift CertificatesPeople love getting gifts at certain times of the year, so make sure that you have gift certificates that your visitors can purchase right on your web site.4: Customer LoyaltyInstead of just focusing on getting new customers why not take advantage of repeat business? Why not give your customers an incentive to come back and do business with you again? You can easily do this by offering coupons and special discounts to ones who have already purchased something from you. This is a lot easier than acquiring new customers since they already know you and feel comfortable shopping at your site. You can also add more value to your customers by adding live
customer support to your site.5: Special OffersMake sure to have a section on the top part of your home page devoted to featuring your current special offers and sales items. In fact if you happen to have a lot of special offers you can just feature the most popular ones and then make a separate web page that shows all of your sales items.6: Shopping CartsPeople want the checkout process to go as quickly and smoothly as possible, so make sure that your visitors are always just one click away to checkout. Try to reduce the checkout process to as few steps as possible. Make sure to offer multiple payment options such as credit cards, Paypal, online checks, mail orders, and such. When you no longer have a product in stock make sure to either remove it from your site or clearly mark it as “out of stock”. There is nothing more irritating for a customer to go through the whole checkout process only to find out that you no longer carry the item they ordered.7: Affiliate ProgramDo you have your own affiliate program? The most successful web sites have one and you should too. By starting your own affiliate program you will develop an increasing online sales force where you only pay them when a sale is made. There is really no risk and it is one of the best low cost effective advertising methods that you can use.If you put these tips into practice you will notice a drastic increase in your sales and web site revenue.
About the Author
Jordan Williams is the Owner of WebCashLink.com which gives you the resources, tools, and software to succeed with an online business.http://www.webcashlink.com
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A Successful eCommerce Website - Part 1So you want to succeed at eCommerce? Welcome to a very large group. First off, let’s be clear that there are a lot of ways to do business on the internet - and a lot of ways to both make and lose money. No way can I cover all of them in a few fairly short articles.
This article is going to assume that 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 a bit beyond those basics. The basics here have to do with factors which will influence the success (or failure) and the degree of success an 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 for a high value site. Sure you can make some money. Once. And you’ll likely have a high refund rate. Essentially you'd be taking advantage of the inexperience of your customers and abusing their willingness to trust you. Not a good path 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 won’t do 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 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 difficult job if you outsource. The less expensive out-source
alternatives can be a bad investment. You’ll need to check very carefully and be certain the operators do actually speak and understand the primary languages(s) of your targeted customer group. You’ll need to provide extensive background information and highly flexible, well-written scripts. You should also collect customer evaluations of these services - separately, and carefully monitor your results to be sure you are getting a decent return on the investment.
You need to have an attractive website. Some can do well with an ugly site, but, in that case, you need to really understand what you're doing and why it might work. The ugly site tactic is not for the inexperienced and very few individuals truly have the grasp of marketing and customer psychology that can lead to 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.
Wherever you can, provide incentives for customers to buy and to return. The return factor is a critical piece of 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. They have at least some faith in you, enough to have purchased. Do your utmost to never damage that faith and treat them with the care they deserve.
The next article in the series will discuss factors such as personalization, security and assisting your staff in dealing consistently with customers customer support.
About the Author
Contracting the computer bug in the early 80's (yes, pre-www) and never cured, Richard, a PhD Clinical Paychologist, now writes on eCommerce, RSS and Niche marketing at http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites.comYou may freely reprint but the link must be live and spiderable
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Informative Articles
A Successful eCommerce Website - Part 2Succeeding with an eCommerce website is a dream for many these days. It can be done no matter how difficult it may sometimes seem. this series covers some of the basic success factors - things you must consider in creating, implementing, managing and developing a quality eCommerce web site. There are a multitude of ways to do business on the internet - and a lot of ways to both make and lose money. Primarily these articles focus on eCommerce sites intended to sell products of various kinds, Not every factor will apply to every site, but since a major failing of many internet entrepreneurs involves the lack of multiple income streams, you should carefully consider all factors and apply them as needed in developing alternate revenue streams.
On examining your eCommerce web site, think carefully about how you can provide personal attention to each visitor. The idea here is personalization through which each visitor, if they wish, can develop a unique experience of your site.
Provide options through which the user can alter layout, colors, etc. Give customers the capability to create their own personal pages on your site. Perhaps offer a simple and easy to provide service to registered customers, such as free email accounts.
As well as building loyalty and stickiness, such features also build your customer database. Scripts are also available which will allow on-the-spot personalization based on responses to a series of questions. You can also use this kind of script to focus your sales message more tightly to the user's expressed interests.
Free services which can be provided on autopilot can be a virtually endless source of targeted customers. Everything from free email to blog hosting, opt-in list building to free advertising forums, all operate on the same principle as building a list through a newszine, white papers, free ebooks or whatever. In return for registration, e.g. name and confirmed email, you provide a service. Careful structuring can allow you to collect significant marketing information on your registered users which would allow well-targeted marketing campaigns.
Never lose track of a customer. Maintaining a database of customers with any of their prior purchases, interests, and so on, allows you to provide personalized purchase suggestions and special offers. The life-long value of a happy customer may be difficult to estimate accurately, but it’s far easier to sell to existing customers than to be continuously forced to acquire new ones.
Even if you only have a single product now, you have to eventually expand your product line(s). Don’t throw a buyer away. Stay in touch, offer information, occasionally recommend a high quality product you use and value. Build trust through value and quality.
To further expand the human dimension, you can add forums and chat rooms. Provide a variety of means to
acquire visitor input. On site surveys and questionnaires, email surveys and opinion polls can not only increase your customers' sense of being in contact with real people who value their opinions and ideas, but also provide exceptionally useful information for refining your marketing and sales tactics. Loyalty programs and affinity networks can also help.
This is a lot like beating a real dead horse, but... Reliability and security are crucial. If your eCommerce site is big enough and busy enough, multiple parallel servers, redundant hardware, use of fail-safe technology, fast technical support service, high quality encryption, valid certificates, high quality payment processors and excellent firewalls will all allow you to ensure your customers that their data is safe, their orders are handled properly and nobody's getting their credit information that shouldn't.
Right now you may not need (or want to pay for) parallel servers, redundant hardware and fail-over technology, don’t ignore the rest. You depend on your ecommerce hosting provider to keep your business running. So think carefully and do some serious research. Overloaded servers, lack of redundant network connections, slow technical support, poor backup procedures can create a nightmare situation for both you and your customers
As this part’s final idea to consider: smooth out your customer contact and support procedures. If multiple staff might come into contact with your customers (chat, phone or email) , providing all of them with the same (and useful) information about the customer, prior orders, any previous or current problems and so forth, can avoid a lot of potential frustration - and lost orders or, worse, a customer lost forever.
It can be incredibly irritating to have to tell the same story over and over, getting bounced from one person to another when no information ever seems to have been recorded. While it may cut down on repeat complaints, that’s usually because the customer is gone forever. Construct your systems so that no information is lost and so that the data needed to be responsive and helpful is instantly available. You may want to restrict some information which customers may not feel comfortable about everyone knowing.
Doing these things right can add significant credibility and usability to your online business, as well as build a loyal customer base which actually enjoys dealing with your eCommerce business. And that's a winning situation for everyone.
About the Author
Contracting the computer bug in the early 80's (yes, pre-www) and never cured, Richard, a PhD Clinical Paychologist, now writes on eCommerce, RSS and Niche marketing at http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites.comYou may freely reprint but the link must be live and spiderable.http://www.blogger.com/www.building-ecommerce-websites.com
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Accepting Payments Online: An ECommerce Web Site OverviewThere are a seemingly infinite number of choices and configurations to accepting payments online. Choices range from almost total "do it yourself" programming to turnkey packages.You can accept online payments from an ECommerce Web site in two general ways:1)Through your own online merchant account and/or2)Through a third party online payment processor.Accepting Payments Online through your own Internet Merchant AccountAccepting payments online via a merchant account puts you in control and limits your reliability on outside payment acceptance services. This approach can also seem like a jigsaw puzzle. Besides an Internet merchant account, you will need shopping cart software, a store or site host, a processor, and a secure payment gateway.You may fit these pieces together in several different ways. On one end of the spectrum, you can choose the provider for each piece individually. On the other end, you may choose a turnkey solution, where a single provider has completed the puzzle for you.There is no single best solution. Your choice will depend on your particular needs and experience. Among other considerations, you should factor in your own comfort with the technologies, customer convenience, providers' service levels, available technical support, reliability, costs, and time commitment involved.FeesThere are a myriad of potential costs and fees involved in accepting payments online, making it difficult to compare different options.Potentially, you could be charged fees by each provider involved in helping you accept payments online - application fees, set-up fees, yearly memberships, monthly statement charges, monthly minimums, gateway access fees, statement fees, fixed transaction fees, variable transaction discount rates (processing fee for each transaction), and cancellation penalties are all common.Often, it is easy to misinterpret the fees you will owe. Rarely are all costs revealed in one place. If you are reading about a merchant account, for example, the quoted costs may not include gateway access, hosting,
and/or shopping cart. Because you may be comparing "apples to oranges", options that at first appear low-cost can - upon implementation - turn out to be pricey. Similarly, expensive-sounding solutions may actually be reasonably priced.Accepting Payments Online through a Third Party Online Payment ProcessorIf you are not ready to set up your own online merchant account and/or you want to offer additional online payment options, you can turn to a variety of third party online payment processors.Third party online payment processors provide a way to accept payments online without the extra cost and obligation of a merchant account. To compensate, transaction fees and/or discount rates are significantly higher than for merchant accounts.Each program is a little different and no single third party payment processor is right for all situations. Clickbank, for example, helps you sell digital products online. At last check, CCNow processes payment for tangible items only.Deciding What's Best for YouWhether you accept payments online through an Internet merchant account, through a third party payment processor, or both, read all agreements carefully before committing. Do not hesitate to ask the providers questions if information is unclear or incomplete.There is more information about accepting payments online - including explanations of merchant account fees, finding the right ecommerce providers, and third party payment processor overview - on the ecommerce information site Take-Payments- Online.com, http://www.Take-Payments-Online.com .Put together the "puzzle pieces" for accepting payments online and your ecommerce Web sales will flourish!
About the Author
Bobette Kyle is publisher of the ecommerce information site http://www.Take-Payments-Online.com . She is also proprietor of The WebSiteMarketingPlan.com Network, subject-specific Web sites designed to help you find the right information for writing and implementing your marketing plan. Visit here: http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.comCopyright 2004 Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.
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Advertising Your eCommerce Web Site8 Tips for Increasing Your Online SalesOnce 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.
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An Arm & A Leg for eCommerce?As a site designer myself, I realize how much time and effort goesinto registering, setting up, and designing a site; not to mention thecreation of content and seamless navigation. But it is unbelievablehow complicated and expensive this process has become!Let's face it, very few entrepreneurs and small businesses can affordto spend hundreds of dollars to set up their dot-com presence withoutknowing how successful it will be! We've seen the results of highexpectations and over spending with the demise of many well-knowncompanies as reported in the news recently.It doesn't have to be this way!Are you planning to sell products or services?You do NOT necessarily need expensive shopping cart software ormerchant accounts to sell your products or services. You can beginyour online venture by setting up a few of your most popular items orservices that can be purchased online. Once a customer has made apurchase, you can then follow up with details on how to purchaseadditional items.There are low cost ecommerce solutions that can help you startconducting business online without breaking the bank.First, determine exactly how sophisticated your ordering process needsto be. Then decide which of the following options best suits yourbusiness needs.Option A - PayPalSet up a Premier Account with PayPal. PayPal is a stable and securecompany that has been around long enough to establish a crediblereputation. I can personally vouch for them, I use them consistently.Benefits:Doing Business As:You have the option of using a business name or your personal name,regardless of how your bank account is registered.Low Cost:There are no monthly fees and no set up fees. That’s right - it’sfree.A small fee is with-held each time a transaction (purchase) isprocessed.Hassle FreeThey process all orders and notify you when payment is received.Referral BonusYou can earn a small cash bonus for qualified referrals you send toPayPal.Features:Shopping
CartPremium members can set up a shopping cart that links directly fromtheir site to PayPal.Send an InvoiceIf your services or product prices vary, you can send customers aninvoice from PayPal once the purchase price has been established.Option B - eBayConsider selling your products or services through eBay. You canaccept checks and money orders by postal mail, or you can acceptcredit cards and checks using PayPal, or eBay’s version of PayPal -BillPoint. You can provide links to your site with each item youlist for auction. You can also set up a reserve amount - the leastdollar amount you will accept for your service or product.Ebay also offers an affiliate program.Option C - ClickBankSign up as a merchant with ClickBank.net. There are some feesinvolved, plus you have to determine what percentage of each sale thatyou will allow the referring site to earn. Affiliates with ClickBankcan choose merchants they like (higher commission percentages dobetter) and then place links on their sites. There is a setup fee formerchants, but you'll also be providing your site a great deal ofexposure. Plus, ClickBank allows you to accept credit cards and othermethods of payment. You'll be setting up your own affiliate program!ClickBank also offers an affiliate program:http://zzz.clickbank.net/r/?abelleOption D - Find a Host that provides Shopping CartsMany hosting packages are set up with shopping carts with a buyfeature. Do your homework. Check on the setup fees and the monthlyfees. Make sure it’s a reputable company so you aren’t worried aboutyour money transactions.These are just some of the options that are available for setting upshop without going broke. I'm sure that there are many more optionsavailable - it just takes some net research.
About the Author
Sandra Cobb is a work at home site designer and homeschooling Mom.Visit her website for free resources athttp://www.designsbyabelle.com, and sign up for her monthly ezine -Comets4Him at http://www.sandracobb.com.
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An Ecommerce Internet Merchant AccountSmall business owners and home based entrepreneurs sometimes reach the point where they realize their company is ready to grow, and then they begin to consider the advantages of an ecommerce Internet merchant account. Those who accept merely cash or check payments may decide to increase the ways in which a customer can pay for goods or services. A merchant account will let business owners accept credit card payments in many different ways. That is why so many business people opt to apply for an Internet merchant account. If you do not already have an Internet Website to promote your business, this would be a good time to put one in place by opening an Ecommerce Internet Merchant account. More and more, consumers are looking to the Internet to find companies that offer the products and terms they want. Conducting business on the Internet or through technological means is called "ecommerce," sometimes spelled as "e-commerce," and it is growing at a tremendously rapid rate. Once your Website is operational, you will want to update it often with your latest product lines and descriptions and price lists. Once customers from any other computer in the world know where to find you, chances are they will return time and again if they like your site; they might even bookmark it. To keep customers coming back, get an Ecommerce Internet merchant account that will let you accept credit card payments. That way, customers can buy things at your store locations, whether online or at a physical site, and pay for them instantly. You won't have to send out statements or wait for checks to arrive in the mail. Instead, your credit-processing feature will let them pay with a
credit card, and your underwriter can facilitate the payment by converting currency and deposit profits in your account, using real time. An ecommerce Internet merchant account can put you leagues ahead of other companies in your industry. While they still take just check or cash payments, you can be busy processing credit card payments that could push your sales volume to new record heights. Naturally, you will want to keep your store looking attractive, and your Website should offer helpful information that will make guests want to return and possibly even bookmark your site for frequent reference. When the word gets out that you are accepting credit payments, more customers may browse your Website to check out your wares and plunk down a credit card in payment. One of the nice things about using credit is its convenience. Customers don't have to worry about carrying enough cash or making an account deposit before going shopping. They can browse spontaneously, and when they find something they want to buy, they need not be constrained by a lack of cash on hand or forgetting to order new checks for the checkbook. Why not apply for your merchant account services account soon so that you can enjoy the status and benefits of attracting customers who prefer using credit when they hear about your ecommerce Internet merchant account. About the author:Shane Penrod is the founder of http://www.Merchant-Account-Quotes.com Specializing in allowing merchants the ability to shop and compare multiple quotes from national merchant account providers. For free quotes on merchant account rates and fees, please go to http://www.merchant-account-quotes.com
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Ask Mr. D - ECommerce SalesDear Mr. D,After spending about a year as anaffiliate for other companies, I havecome up with my own product.My product is similar to one that Iwas selling as an affiliate. I madereal good money selling this productas an affiliate, but my product, whichI think is superior to that one, is notselling hardly at all.My price is the same and I am gettinga lot of traffic, but as I said, very fewsales. Can you please take a look atmy website and see if I have a problemthere? Something is wrong.Signed,No Sales____________________Dear No Sales,There is an old adage in sales, don't sell the steak - sell the sizzle.Your site does a good job of describingyour product. That is what's meant byselling the steak. But, it falls short onselling the benefits a buyer will gainby using your product. That is calledselling the
sizzle.People are not interested in your product or service per se, they are only interested in what the product or service will do forthem. How will they benefit from using your product or service.You need to rewrite your sales copy tolet your visitors know how they will benefitfrom buying and using your product. Paintthem a verbal picture of how they will bebetter off once they have that product.You said you had done well selling thistype of product as an affiliate. I suggestyou take a look at that website to seehow they do it. I'm not suggesting youcopy their site, but just get a few ideas.I wish you the best.Signed,Mr. D
About the Author
Do you have an advertising or marketing question you'd like to see published in this column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.comYou can visit Mr. D's website at:http://www.freeadsgalore.com
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Blocking and Tackling A quick look at some eCommerce fundamentals
eCommerce can be VERY complex. To offer a world class customer experience, retailers must incorporate technologies and functionality that exceeds rising customer expectations.
eCommerce can be VERY complex. To offer a world class customer experience, retailers must incorporate technologies and functionality that exceeds rising customer expectations.
On the flip side however, site fundamentals still play a very large role in converting visitors into customers. Many retailers surprisingly lose sight of these site basics and leave significant sales on the table. This brief examines 4 quick “fundamentals” every eCommerce manager cannot afford to lose sight of.
Think Fast
Speed has become less of a problem due to the penetration of broadband, but don’t forget that a significant number of people still shop by a dialup connection. When creating a site framework, designers and e-commerce teams should ensure that the site is developed with pages loading in less than 9 seconds (over a dial-up connection).
Our recommended page size is within 60-70k in bytes. At that amount, sites will likely load within the maximum wait time of 9 seconds. Online retailers should avoid flash at all costs within their transactional site. Flash’s artistic aspects may help you establish a brand presence – but it will likely lose potential customers before they have even searched within your store.
Image is important
Images are a very important aspect of selling online and are often neglected. All product images should be of the highest resolution possible, be much larger than the product page original, and
have
multiple views. Dynamic imaging capabilities can improve the user experience to an even higher level by increasing interactivity (zoom &
rotate). At a minimum – retailers should have at least two additional views outside of the product page image to help build emotion.
Be my guest
Shoppers do not like being forced to do anything, especially when they are ready to open their wallets. Forcing a shopper to register on your site before purchasing is a sure way to drive a portion of your traffic to your competitors. Too often , shoppers do not have the time or the inclination to fill out a lengthy form explaining what types of information they desire.
Always offer the ability to checkout as a guest. You will see less customer leakage within the checkout process and can still offer the option to register when the sale is completed.
Make sure it’s “above the fold”
Your homepage is the most important page within your eCommerce store. It sets the initial tone for the shopping experience and offers your best promotions and products to your visitors. Users typically visually scan a web page from top to bottom and then from left to right. All critical content and navigation options should be obvious to the shopper without having to scroll down. If you have your best promotions “below the fold” – you can bet that a large percentage of browsers are not scrolling down to see it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Learn more about us Visit http://www.trinityinsight.com/
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Blogs, Podcasting and RSS eCommerce ImpactBlogs, Podcasting, and RSS Overview You probably have heard all these terms an awful lot lately. You wonder about what these technologies do? What value to they provide? If you aren't up to speed on these new applications and how they are impacting online interactions then read this brief further. Will these technologies impact you? To be honest, it's too early to tell - but awareness will drive innovation and maybe your team will develop an idea/application that utilizes these technologies to enhance a portion of your eCommerce business. Here's the rundown: Blogs What they are: Probably the most well known of the three, blogs allow everyday people to quickly develop a website presence and distribute any type of content that they desire. Look at the metrics relating to blog penetration. * 7% of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the internet say they have created a blog or web-based diary. That represents more than 8 million people. * 27% of internet users say they read blogs. * Only 38% of all internet users know what a blog is. The rest are not sure what the term "blog" means. What a "blog" actually means is weblog. In basic terminology, it's the ability for someone to update web content directly though the Internet, using a web browser as the publishing mechanism. This makes the creation of content easy and many people are using blogs to establish authority sites within unique business and hobby/interest niches. Where blogs impact online retail most is within these targeted online communities. Certain blog authors develop a large base of specific visitors, hence the site becomes a potential target market for viral marketing efforts. Many web entrepreneurs us this functionality to develop affiliate hubs within niche markets, and use search popularity to beat out larger retailers within corresponding natural search results. By integrating your brand image within the site experience at that SPECIFIC blog, you as an online marketer are able to segment your marketing PRIOR to converting someone as a customer. It is a place to communicate with current and potential customers about current offerings/promos while boosting the credibility of the brand. Should you care: If you have a very unique value proposition, or sell to a very specific or high-value customer segment, blogs can be a great way to increase overall brand awareness. You can better connect with your customers and provide detail into the current happening within the business (ex. Current sales on XBOX 360). Potentially, one person within your organization should own the monitoring of blogs within
your vertical and look to post new content to meet the needs within the unique blog community. Podcasting What it is: Pocasting should be just called mobile video broadcasting. However, Apple's marketing/development team did a great job with branding their device to a type of emerging media - hence the term podcasting! Similar to traditional radio and television, mobile video broadcasting delivers branded content in either a paid/free environment, on someone's mobile media player (Apple only does video currently, but that will change shortly). Retailers can potentially use this communication channel to deliver targeted content to their customer base, while integrating advertising within the video content. Should you care: Not really. Until video podcasting penetration increases, it's still a limited channel for advertising. The best application available right now would be an online audio content segment that is digitally delivered to an opt-in list. As technology advances, you can potentially do this from your current opt-in page on your website and not from Apple's iTunes platform. RSS RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and is a method for electronic content distribution. RSS is transmitted via the internet, but what makes it unique is that no downloading efforts are needed by the end receiver of the content. The content streams instateneously within a webpage. Advanced consumers have RSS news readers on their computers, either integrated into an email client, or utilize an aggregated web application such as News Gator. This essentially saves them time in aggregating all new and updated content that meets their interests. Already gaining steam in the travel industry and within comparison shopping engines, RSS seems to be a valuable way to push news and time sensitive offers to customers. Travel companies are able to provide a streaming supply of last minute airfare offers to their customer segments, without that customer having to open an email or visit a webpage. Should you care: It completely depends on the nature of your business. Do you consistently offer new prices? Do you obtain new products to your assortment consistently? Do you have a customer base that is extremely loyal that you want to reach out to with messaging? If so, RSS may another channel to help build your brand. Call us today to learn more about these technologies and the potential impact they can have in reaching your customers with targeted messaging and fresh content. About the author:http://www.trinityinsight.com
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Building Ecommerce Web Sites: Where Do I Start?Building a web site isn't something that is really cut and dry. There's a huge variety of products and services that can either help you get your web site where you want it or simply confuse you. It's also important that you make the right choices upfront so that you don't end up having to restructure your whole web site because of some problem in your design layout. The level of time investment neccessary for mastery in a lot of these software packages can range from little to a VERY significant amount. Because of this I feel it's important to be lead in the "right" direction to make sure you don't spend time in the wrong areas, or learning some software that might not be all that useful for you later on (*coughs* Frontpage *coughs*).
Where you should start greatly depends on what you plan on attempting to do, and how deep you're going to dive in. For a moderately professional, clean looking web site without a lot of automation or intensive animated graphics you can probably get by with some basic knowledge of html, ability with a good WYSIWYG editor, and an image editting program. On the other hand, if you're someone that's looking to build something that will really wow your audience then you might consider spending some major time and developing some animation skills with a program like Macromedia Flash. I personally always spring for what I believe will bring me the greatest amount of profit with a minimal amount of effort, and because of this I usually end up spending all of my time diving in deeper with ONLY my WYSIWYG HTML editor, and my image editor.
What is a "WYSIWYG" editor?
A WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor is what allows you to get by with minimal knowledge of HTML. Yes, that means you don't have to know EVERYTHING about HTML to have a decent looking website. When you use a WYSIWYG editor it interprets what you're doing (inserting an image for example) as being a certain series of HTML tags with attributes, and does it for you... Thus, what you see on your screen is what you get. Instead of seeing a bunch of HTML code in text format, you'll mostly see what will actually show up in your browser once your web site is up WHILE you're making it. I highly recommend using the latest version of dreamweaver -- it is well-known as one of the best HTML editors by general consensus. Dreamweaver's interface is very friendly, has a built in FTP client, and is specifically built to be flexible enough to suit both the coder and the everyday amatuer webmaster.
Image editing? What do I need that for?
Okay, let's be realistic here: If you're going to make a professional *appearing* web site it's important that you can make some basic, decent looking graphics. There's a lot of graphics problems that can truly get the job done, but as far as power and flexibility goes I recommend Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop definitely takes some time getting used to, but in the end it's VERY rewarding. I've ended up using my knowledge of Photoshop to make not only graphics for multiple web sites, but also touched up portraits, made business cards, flyers, and other online advertisments such as banners. Infact, I've used it for everything except animation... But it also comes with Adobe Imageready which is very good with animation. This software is amazing, and if you're going to learn ANY image editing software I recommend you start with Photoshop
because of it's widerange of overall... usefulness!
Let's get me some sales!
Kick off your new web site you've gotten up from your knowledge of webmastering and image editing with a few new sales... Sounds like a plan? Well a great way to do that quickly is with pay-per-click advertising. BUT WAIT! Doesn't that cost money? Well... Yes. But with the tools brought to us by some of the biggest pay-per-click advertisers out there we should be able to make a good evaluation of how much profit we're going to make without much investment upfront.
The big question behind pay-per-click advertising is whether or not it's worth the cash when you can simply get traffic from regular search engine ranking (otherwise known as organic traffic). Afterall, there are plenty of companies out there that promise to help get you all the traffic you need through optimizing your web site for organic ranking. The answer to this question is quite simple: profit is profit. Through conversion tracking tools such as those offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing and Google Adwords anyone can calculate exactly what their profit is after cost of PPC advertising is taken out. In my opinion, Google Adwords has the most user-friendly interface among the PPC advertisers. Google Adword's interface makes it very easy to see which keywords are pulling you in the most sales, and which ones aren't even worth your advertising money.
Let us not forget, however, that in order to make those conversions we're going to be needing a shopping cart! There's a lot of diverse software packages out there you can use, but I've been using Mal's E-Commerce Free shopping cart for a number of years with great success. The cart's server is hosted on their machines so that means you not only get away with not having to pay for the software itself, but you get out of having to buy an SSL security ticket too! Nothing's a better bargain than free, eh?
Getting those sales leads you've been building up to BUY!
Once you've scored a few sales it would probably be a good idea to start using some kind of lead management services. I highly recommend the use of autoresponders for this purpose. Autoresponders are, essentially, a newsletter sign-up that allows you to strategically determine what you want to send each lead after a certain alotted amount of time. For example, let's say someone visits your web site and you offer them a free newsletter. If you were selling an ebook on some very complicated topic, you might consider sending them only information on the most basic concepts at first to get them interested. Slowly but surely, you can turn those visitors that might have left your web site and never have returned into some serious revenue!
As far as autoresponders go, I highly recommend the use of Aweber. Their customer service is superb (seriously, these guys really know their stuff!) and can be contacted at any point during the business day via online chat or phone. They also offer tons of free information, and guides on making the most of their services. Check out their month long free trial at http://www.getaweber.com/.About the Author
Jacob Richards, the author of this article, currently runs a website on the topic of building an ecommerce web site (visit at http://ecommweb.blogspot.com/ ).
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Building eCommerce Websites That Work - Part 1Copyright 2005 Richard KeirYou 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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Building eCommerce Websites that Work - Part 2Copyright 2005 Richard KeirSucceeding with an eCommerce website is a dream for many these days. It may seem nearly impossible at times, but it can be done. This series covers some of the basic success factors - things you must consider in creating, implementing, managing and developing a quality eCommerce web site. There are many ways to do business on the internet - and, not surprisingly, a lot of ways to both make and lose money. Mainly, I'm focusing on eCommerce sites intended to sell products of various kinds. Not every factor is going to apply to every site, but since a major failing of many internet entrepreneurs is the lack of multiple income streams, you'd do well to carefully consider all factors and apply them as needed in developing alternate revenue streams.On examining your eCommerce web site, put some serious thought into how you can provide personal attention to each visitor. The idea here is a process of personalization through which each visitor, if they wish, can develop a unique experience of your site.Provide options through which the user can alter layout, colors, etc. Give customers the capability to create their own personal pages on your site. Perhaps offer a simple and easy to provide service to registered customers, such as free email accounts.As well as building loyalty and stickiness, such features also build your customer database. Scripts are also available which will allow on-the-spot personalization based on responses to a series of questions. You can also use this kind of script to focus your sales message more tightly to the user's expressed interests. This technique has been reported to substantially increase conversion rates.Free services which can be provided on autopilot can be a virtually endless source of targeted customers. Everything from free email to blog hosting, opt-in list building to free advertising forums, all operate on the same principle as building a list through a newszine, white papers, free ebooks or whatever. In return for registration, e.g. name and confirmed email, you provide a service that your visitors desire. The exchange of value is critical. The more valuable the service that you offer, the more willing people are to provide their information. Careful structuring can allow you to collect significant marketing information on your registered users which would allow well-targeted marketing campaigns.Never lose track of a customer. Maintaining a database of customers with any of their prior purchases, interests, and so on, allows you to provide personalized purchase suggestions and special offers. The life-long value of a happy customer may be difficult to estimate accurately, but it's far easier to sell to existing customers than to be continuously forced to acquire new ones.Even if you only have a single product now, you will eventually have expand your product line(s). Don't throw a buyer away. Stay in touch, offer information, occasionally recommend a high quality product you use and value. Build trust through value and quality. It's nearly impossible to over-emphasize this point. Look to the long term and plan ahead. Every serious marketer needs to do this.To further expand the human
dimension, you can add forums and chat rooms. Provide a variety of means to acquire visitor input. On site surveys and questionnaires, email surveys and opinion polls can not only increase your customers' sense of being in contact with real people who value their opinions and ideas, but also provide exceptionally useful information for refining your marketing and sales tactics. Loyalty programs and affinity networks can also help.This is a lot like beating a real dead horse, but... Reliability and security are crucial. If your eCommerce site is big enough and busy enough, multiple parallel servers, redundant hardware, use of fail-safe technology, fast technical support service, high quality encryption, valid certificates, high quality payment processors and excellent firewalls will all allow you to ensure your customers that their data is safe, their orders are handled properly and nobody's getting their credit information that shouldn't. Many people still are extremely hesitant to purchase on-line because of fears of identity and/or credit card theft. You can't ignore this issue and hope to succeed.Right now you may not need (or want to pay for) parallel servers, redundant hardware and fail-over technology, but don't ignore the rest. You depend on your eCommerce hosting provider to keep your business running. So think carefully and do some serious research. Overloaded servers, lack of redundant network connections, slow technical support, poor backup procedures can create a nightmare situation for both you and your customersAs a final consideration for this part, smooth out your customer contact and support procedures. If multiple staff might come into contact with your customers (chat, phone or email) , providing all of them with the same (and useful) information about the customer, prior orders, any previous or current problems and so forth, can avoid a lot of potential frustration - and lost orders or, worse, a customer lost forever.It can be incredibly irritating to have to tell the same story over and over, getting bounced from one person to another when no information ever seems to have been recorded. While it may cut down on repeat complaints, that's usually because the customer is gone forever. Construct your systems so that no information is lost and so that the data needed to be responsive and helpful is instantly available. In doing this consider that some information which customers may not feel comfortable about everyone knowing should be restricted to those who would actually need it.Doing these things right can add significant credibility and usability to your online business, as well as build a loyal customer base which actually enjoys dealing with your eCommerce business. When you reach that stage, you're there - the true win-win situation that's makes an outstanding eCommerce web site.
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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Building eCommerce Websites that work - Part 3Copyright 2005 Richard KeirAn interesting eCommerce success factor that isn't precisely overlooked, but which is often thought about more in terms of being a way of feeding the search engine spiders has to do with providing content. In a very real sense the customer's job is to consume. That's why you're in business.Think in terms of providing the information your customers need to do their job of consuming. What does that mean? Consider what you sell. The content on your site needs to focus on your products - whatever they happen to be. Reviews and comparative information on the items available through your web site can help focus and direct your customer to what they need, want and can afford.Too often eCommerce sites use only marginally relevant information as content - or content that may match the general theme of the site but has nothing to do with what's being sold, promoted, etc. That could be more or less adequate as spider food, but it isn't going to help your customers do their job of consuming your products.The better you combine these two goals - informing your customers and feeding the spiders - the better you'll do at both. Irrelevant search listings are pretty much a waste of your bandwidth. What you want is highly targeted customers interested in what you're offering and since the search engines love focused content and integrated sites, make that work for you.And I'm not suggesting blatant repetitive hyped up sales copy. You want to inform, compare, offer added information that will help focus your customers. Use your content to develop desire and provide comparative information on similar products at varying price levels. Remember: desire not need.While we all need things - and while you may be convinced everyone absolutely needs your product - we mostly buy based on desire - because we want it. The better you do at turning that need into immediate desire, the better your site will perform.Again, not a fevered sales pitch. That's likely to turn off a large number of customers. Examples, stories and carefully chosen (and real) testimonials can support the process, too. Using video and/or audio can have a dramatic impact. Let your customers draw the obvious conclusions.Along with providing plenty of comparison and review data, good search facilities are essential for a large eCommerce site. This also means that if you use a
searchable product database that your keys and descriptions must be well-chosen and the links from search results to pages work smoothly and easily.While we've talked earlier in this series about the importance of providing various ways to enhance the social aspect of your site, it's also important that customers be capable of using it without assistance. Never over complicate your site or your processes to the point that it's no longer obvious what to do to buy something (or complete whatever desired action you are focusing on).A typical customer should be able to go from front page to product page to order page to thank you page easily and without hesitation or confusion. The simpler and cleaner the process, the better for you.If you can manage it, test with 4 or 5 basically internet illiterate people. Watch carefully what they do, where they hesitate, what seems to cause confusion - but don't talk or help during the process. Then go over everything with them in detail working with your observations and their thoughts and feelings. Your site may be obvious to you, but is it obvious to anyone else?And when you think you've covered anything, a few pairs of new eyes (or checking out your competitors' sites) can give you a whole new to-do list.Your eCommerce site is an intentional business creation. Every aspect should be organized around what you want the site to do, what kind of visitors you want and what you want them to do. Everything on your site should be there for a specific reason that contributes to your goals for the site. And everything should be tested to be certain that it actually does contribute.It's your site and your business so never take anything for granted, never assume something works if it can be tested. And never stop testing. With careful attention to detail and on-going testing you'll be able to make incremental improvements over time that will vastly improve the productivity of your eCommerce web site.
About the Author
Richard writes, teaches and consults on business presentations, eCommerce, site building and programming. Visit http://www.building-ecommerce-websites.com/ for eCommerce resources and links and check http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites/blog for opinion and ideas.
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Canada and eCommerceCanadian eCommerce growth was recently flat but still has an attractive upside... Recent studies found that Canadian retail e-commerce growth was flat year over year (2003-2004). After further examination however, approximately 60% of the 100 largest non-travel sites succeeded in growing their sales over 20%. Also interesting is the trending of Canadians from buying at non-Canadian sites to domestic sites (63% domestic, 37% foreign). This "domestic shift" clearly benefits the launching of a new eCommerce business in Canada. The sales opportunity lies with the "early adopters", individuals primarily the 18-34 year old age range. This segment is more technologically savvy and more likely to purchase online. In a 2003 to 2004 sampling comparison, this segment's overall e-commerce spending increased 44%. The 35 to 54 age group increased only 5% and 55+ increased 18% (includes online travel). Overall Internet Adoption rates still trail the U.S. and come in at approximately 52%. However, with the development of new Internet infrastructures and the maturation of Canadian ISP's, this number will likely rise in the next 3-5 years. The following quote from the Canadian government re-enforces this theme. "To reach our new national goal (relating to e-commerce) Canadians will need to develop strategies that build an intelligent infrastructure to serve as the backbone of the e-economy- by encouraging investment, strengthening research, enhancing commercialization and ensuring that all Canadians have access to this infrastructure and know how to use it." (September, 2004) Shifting demographics & lack of online competition equal a substantial opportunity... Forrester Research reports that 48% of Canadian web shoppers are now female compared to 39% in 2003. 74% of web buyers are married and likely are home shoppers, compared to 68% in 2003. With the gender gap closing, online home retailers have a great opportunity to target their core customer segment: the
30-40yr old female who owns or maintains a residence. Within this sector, it is rare for U.S. based retailers to have online Canadian stores. Many brands will ship to Canada, for very high costs (customs duty & shipping) but this likely leads to an unpleasant experience for the Canadian consumer. These high costs, compiled with a lack of domestic Canadian retailers providing an e-commerce offering, are driving the stagnant growth of the online sales channel. By being a "first-mover" in establishing a presence in the online marketplace within Canada, online retailers will facilitate sales from consumers that want to get products shipped from their native homeland after being paid for in Canadian currency. Similar to the U.S., consumers are exhibiting multi-channel tendencies and embracing the emergence of broadband connectivity... Canada is the only country in the world in which broadband overtook dial-up access in 2003. Currently 48% of all Canadian consumers have broadband access and they are 67% more likely to have high speed web-access than American consumers. This impressive penetration may prove to be a strong driver for online circulars and new online merchandising tactics, as product differentiation are established outside of price. Canadian shoppers are also parallel to U.S. consumers in their multi-channel behavior. 58% of Canadian shoppers have researched a product online and purchased offline, spending an average of $440. An online Canadian strategy must focus on integrating the online and physical store with store locator functionality and other tools to promote cross-channel behavior. In conclusion, multi-national retailers should closely examine the Canadian eCommerce opportunity. Attractive consumer demographics, an established broadband infrastructure, and a shift in overall shopping tendencies make the Canada a high-growth and un-saturated area for multi-channel retail. About the author:http://www.trinityinsight.com
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Canada's eCommerce Opportunity
This brief takes an updated view of the Canadian e-commerce landscape and provides insight for online retailers to help craft future Canadian customer strategies.
Canadian eCommerce growth was recently flat but still has an attractive upside…
Recent studies found that Canadian retail e-commerce growth was flat year over year (2003-2004). After further examination however, approximately 60% of the 100 largest non-travel sites succeeded in growing their sales over 20%.
Also interesting is the trending of Canadians from buying at non-Canadian sites to domestic sites (63% domestic, 37% foreign). This “domestic shift” clearly benefits the launching of a new eCommerce business in Canada.
The sales opportunity lies with the “early adopters”, individuals primarily the 18-34 year old age range. This segment is more technologically savvy and more likely to purchase online. In a 2003 to 2004 sampling comparison, this segment’s overall e-commerce spending increased 44%. The 35 to 54 age group increased only 5% and 55+ increased 18% (includes online travel).
Overall Internet Adoption rates still trail the U.S. and come in at approximately 52%. However, with the development of new Internet infrastructures and the maturation of Canadian ISP’s, this number will likely rise in the next 3-5 years. The following quote from the Canadian government re-enforces this theme.
“To reach our new national goal (relating to e-commerce) Canadians will need to develop strategies that build an intelligent infrastructure to serve as the backbone of the e-economy- by encouraging investment, strengthening research, enhancing commercialization and ensuring that all Canadians have access to this infrastructure and know how to use it.” (September, 2004)
Shifting demographics & lack of online competition equal a substantial opportunity…
Forrester Research reports that 48% of Canadian web shoppers are now female compared to 39% in 2003. 74% of web buyers are married and likely are home shoppers, compared to 68% in 2003.
With the gender gap closing, online home retailers have a great opportunity to target their core customer segment: the 30-40yr old female who owns or maintains a residence.
Within
this sector, it is rare for U.S. based retailers to have online Canadian stores. Many brands will ship to Canada, for very high costs (customs duty & shipping) but this likely leads to an unpleasant experience for the Canadian consumer. These high costs, compiled with a lack of domestic Canadian retailers providing an e-commerce offering, are driving the stagnant growth of the online sales channel.
By being a “first-mover” in establishing a presence in the online marketplace within Canada, online retailers will facilitate sales from consumers that want to get products shipped from their native homeland after being paid for in Canadian currency.
Similar to the U.S., consumers are exhibiting multi-channel tendencies and embracing the emergence of broadband connectivity…
Canada is the only country in the world in which broadband overtook dial-up access in 2003. Currently 48% of all Canadian consumers have broadband access and they are 67% more likely to have high speed web-access than American consumers.
This impressive penetration may prove to be a strong driver for online circulars and new online merchandising tactics, as product differentiation are established outside of price.
Canadian shoppers are also parallel to U.S. consumers in their multi-channel behavior. 58% of Canadian shoppers have researched a product online and purchased offline, spending an average of $440. An online Canadian strategy must focus on integrating the online and physical store with store locator functionality and other tools to promote cross-channel behavior.
In conclusion, multi-national retailers should closely examine the Canadian eCommerce opportunity. Attractive consumer demographics, an established broadband infrastructure , and a shift in overall shopping tendencies make the Canada a high-growth and un-saturated area for multi-channel retail.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Craig Smith is the Founder of Trinity Insight LLC, a consulting firm that focuses on improving online sales for retailers through research, testing, and analysis.
http://www.trinityinsight.com/
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Choosing an Ecommerce Shopping Cart
Choosing an online shopping cart is a big decision. Unlike a traditional brick and mortar business, your website is your only chance to impress potential customers. It needs to project a professional image to capture the trust of your visitors. The shopping cart is a particularly important part of your website because it deals with people’s personal information and credit card numbers. People are nervous about online purchases and need to be assured that they are giving their credit card numbers to a reputable company.
There are several types of ecommerce shopping carts available. They range from merchant services, which require no programming skills, to fully integrated shopping carts that require custom programming. The three main categories of shopping carts are:
· Merchant services such as eBay and 2Checkout
· Hosted shopping cart services
· Fully integrated shopping carts
Merchant Services
Most shopping carts require you to have your own merchant account and gateway. A merchant account is a bank account that allows a business to conduct credit card transactions and the gateway allows the transaction to be conducted over a secure connection. It’s okay if you don’t have a merchant account or gateway. Merchant service shopping carts allow you to use their merchant account, gateway and shopping cart for a higher cost.
Merchant services are beneficial for very small businesses or those that are just starting and don’t have a lot of orders. Merchant services provide the merchant account, gateway, hosted shopping cart and will maintain your customer’s personal information. They usually require a set-up fee between 50 and 200 dollars, transaction fee between 30 and 75 cents, and 5% to 10% of each transaction. Because you are using their merchant account, your customer’s credit card statement will show the merchant services business name not yours. In some cases, customers will not recognize the charge and may dispute it.
Merchant service shopping carts have an administrative interface, which allows you to login to your account to add products, prices and shipping options. The shopping cart generates the html for the purchase buttons and you simply copy and paste the html into your web pages. When your customer clicks on the purchase button, he is taken to another website to enter the credit card information. This indicates to the customer that you are a small business. Some potential customers will abandon the shopping cart rather than enter their credit card information on a website they know nothing about.
Once your business grows to the point where you are processing over $1000 a month, it’s more cost effective to apply for your own merchant account and switch to either a hosted shopping cart (little or no programming) or a fully integrated shopping cart (programming required).
Hosted Shopping Cart
The hosted shopping cart is a great solution for a small business that is processing over $1000 a month but does not have the resources to create or customize a fully integrated shopping cart. Hosted shopping carts are similar to the merchant services because they provide an administrative interface for you to enter products, pricing and shipping options. They will generate the html for the purchase buttons, which can be copied and pasted into your html pages.
Hosted shopping carts face some of same problems
as merchant service carts because your customers will be transferred to a different website to enter the credit card information. Some hosted shopping carts allow you to customize the shopping cart so that it has the same look and feel as your websites. Customizing your shopping cart may require some programming skills, but it could also prevent customers from abandoning their shopping carts.
The main difference between the merchant services shopping cart and the hosted shopping cart is the name that appears on the customer’s credit card and pricing. Hosted shopping carts allow you to use your own merchant account and gateway, which means the customer’s credit card statement will show your business name next to the charge. This can decrease your charge backs.
If you are using your own merchant account and conducting over $1000 of transitions each month, the hosted shopping carts can be less expensive than merchant services. Your merchant account will probably charge a monthly fee between 20 and 60 dollars, transaction fee between 10 and 50 cents, and a percentage of the transaction, usually ranging between 2% to 3.5%. In addition to the merchant fees, your shopping cart service will also charge a monthly fee between 10 and 30 dollars and could charge a transaction fee. These fees sound more expensive than the merchant service option, but if you are processing over $1000 a month and growing, it’s better to pay flat monthly fees than continue to be charged 5 to 10 percent of the each transaction.
Fully Integrated Shopping Carts
The fully integrated shopping cart is a great option for any business that can afford it. The shopping cart will be dynamic and will have the same look and feel as your website. The ZIP Baby Potty Training Store is a great example of a fully integrated shopping cart. Fully integrated shopping carts like this contain features that are not found in merchant service or hosted shopping carts. For example, you can discount items, display customer reviews, assign products to multiple categories, display out of stock notifications, sort products and prices, and display shipping estimates without requiring the customer to create an account.
Integrated shopping carts require advanced programming skills and can often be used with your own merchant account or with a service that allows you to use their merchant account for a higher fee. There are many integrated shopping carts available. Free carts require the most programming skills, but if you don’t have the programming skills necessary to customize a free shopping cart, there are many companies that specialize in customizing fully integrated shopping carts.
Your choice of a shopping cart can have a dramatic impact on your business. Your website is the first and only impression you get to make so you’ll want to make it as professional as possible. While shopping for a shopping cart system, put yourself in your target customer’s shoes and browse the Internet. Review your competitor’s websites as well as those outside your industry. Make a list of shopping carts that you find appealing and research them thoroughly before choosing one.
Copyright 2004 Danna Henderson. All Rights Reserved.
Danna Henderson started ZIP Baby in order to provide parents with comprehensive potty training information and a large selection of potty training products. For more information visit the ZIP Baby Potty Training Store .
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Informative Articles
Comparing Ecommerce Software Programs - 5 TipsIf you've ever been interested in selling products online, this is certainly a great time to go into business. With more and more online users everyday, and people becoming more comfortable spending and making purchases over the internet, there is a lot of opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to tap into this market.
Once you've selected your market and the types of products you wish to sell, you'll need to choose an ecommerce software program that suits your needs though. Here are a few tips to help the process along.
What type of product are you selling? If you are going to taking orders for physical products that you package and ship to your customers, the ecommerce software you need will be very different than if you are selling digital products that are delivered directly over the internet. Make certain the software allows you to offer pictures, descriptions, and choices of sizes, colors, etc… if that is what you need.
Compatibility - Be certain your server or webhost's server is compatible with the ecommerce program you choose. Most online store's will want to have a secure connection, so make sure your webhost provides this option too.
Payment Processor - Make certain the ecommerce software you choose can integrate with your current payment processor or the one you are planning to use. Most of the better
programs allow integration with all of the popular merchant account gateways so you an quickly and easily accept and process payments via credit cards.
Support - Although there are several open source ecommerce programs that work very well for small to medium size online shops, keep in mind that paid versions will usually offer full technical support. This is an important consideration if you are serious about starting and growing your online business.
Search Engine Friendly - Many newer ecommerce software programs are search engine friendly. That means they create addresses and ecommerce websites that search engines like google and yahoo can easily 'read' to see what's in your store. This will increase your chances of your store getting listed in the search engines, possibly providing you with free traffic and more potential customers.
We hope these tips will help make your choice of ecommerce software and bit easier.
Good luck with your new online venture!About the Author
Angie Noack is a business strategist with a sharp edge for technology. With her unique ability to combine these two skills, she's able to help businesses save time and increase profits. You can find her online at http://www.softwaresoftwaresoft.com/
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Informative Articles
Cost Effective Ecommerce Solutions.Ecommerce use to be about spending thousands of dollars on setting up your shop and hundreds of dollars on getting a merchant. My, how things have changed over the years. Now anyone with a few hundred of dollars in their pocket(or less if you have the time to learn it yourself) can have a great working ecommerce system up and running in the matter of days. This also includes the full ability to accept payments from Credit Cards, manage customers, create invoices and more.The most cost effective ecommerce solution on the market today is Oscommerce.com . Why is it so cost effective, well because it is free. All you need to do is learn it yourself or get someone who works in the web world(a web designer or programmer) to set it up for you. This can run you anywhere’s from $500-$900, give or take a bit depending on the features you want and if you want it integrated into a custom built design. In a all in one solution you can set up products to sell, have a visitor sign up and pay via the osc(oscommerce) payment section, create an invoice for that client as well as deliver the product(if it can be transferred via email) or create a packing slip to be mailed out. These are just some of the features located in oscommerce.Another great feature about oscommerce is that you can integrate it to fit right into your site design. If you view my site at www.Logo2D.com and click one of the links at the top(such as logo templates) you can see that it fits snugly into the design. You can customize any part of oscommerce including the buttons for the shopping cart. It is a really great program to use.One of the hassle before with ecommerce was getting something that would process payment. Payment was a
big issue as before it was very costly to get a merchant account, which usually cost around $400USD. Also you had to pay a % of every sale you made, which can really add up.Today there are two great forms of payment that can be added to Oscommerce as your payment modules, they are Paypal.com and 2Checkout.com . These two options are a great way to go. Paypal.com is free to sign up, has over 78 Million accounts, only charges a small % of each sale/payment, can be funded by your credit card or bank account if you want to purchase something online and any sales you get you can take straight down into your bank account. Though the user does have to have a paypal account to pay you, but with 78 Million Accounts, you can see that is no problem.2Checkout.com doesn't offer as many features in the way as you being able to purchase products offline, but it is great if someone is purchasing products off of you. It allows you to take payments via credit card and the customer doesn't even have to have a 2checkout.com account. It only takes a small % off when you take money down into your account. The only down side to 2checkout.com is that there is a one time fee of $49 to purchase a membership and they only send payment out twice a month(the middle of the month and the end of the month). So really not much of a downside at all.So combine these three options and you can have a fully functional ecommerce website up for only a few hundreds of dollar!
About the Author
Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics World. You can visit my business at http://www.logo2d.com©Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com : Feel free to use this article freely but please keep in the copyright
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Developing a Winning Ecommerce Marketing Strategy
Developing a Winning Ecommerce Marketing Strategy
One bright spot on the economic horizons around the world seems to be continued consumer spending and ecommerce is clearly a part of this, with sales estimated to be in excess of $9.9 Billion in the next three months according to ACNielsen. But, there is a dark cloud hovering over this landscape called poor ecommerce web site design. Let’s explore some of the reasons why consumers are not reaching for their credit cards after perusing an ecommerce web site.
There is a huge knowledge gap about how the web is really driving online and offline commerce. A recent eCommercePulse survey of more than 33,000 surfers conducted by Nielsen/Net ratings and Harris Interactive indicates ecommerce sites are driving more purchases offline (phone, catalogue, retail store sales) than online. Consumers are using the web to effortlessly compare features and pricing – then, calling the company or visiting their local retail store to make a purchase. Clearly many companies need to factor this information in when they analyze their online and offline marketing expenditures and related ROI.
Unfortunately many firms have allocated a disproportionate amount of resources for advertising and not enough on good web site design and back end infrastructure. It’s critical to make the market aware of a site, but if the potential customers are not presented with the right navigation and menus (read information architecture) they will not buy. Case in point, according to recent Dataquest surveys (and others) between 20-40% of most users don’t purchase because they can’t figure out how to easily move around the web site.
Many companies fail to properly integrate their ecommerce components with the overall site design. The in-house developers or outside design firm concentrate on the sexy parts of the web site design process (the graphics, branding, look and feel) and only focus on the ecommerce process after the primary web site design is completed – making ecommerce an afterthought.
Many ecommerce web sites don’t even list a phone number, arbitrarily forcing people to contact the company electronically – this is a real problem, as many people don’t want to use e-mail or forms as their primary means of communicating, they want the immediacy of the telephone.
It's surprising, but approx 30% of ecommerce sites don’t have a search capability that actually works – in many cases it just returns gobblygook. This is a real irritant for many online shoppers who want to find goods and services quickly and efficiently – the need for speed should be the ecommerce merchants marketing mantra and a good search capability gives users a way to quickly find products.
One of the most important parts of any web site is
the home or index page, as it aggregates the design elements and information architecture. So many index page are cluttered and poorly designed, loaded with poor graphics, bad menu structures, oddball words or my absolute least favorite, 30-60 second Flash animation sequences which force the user to sit and stare at a blank screen while the animation loads.
According to a recent Zona Research and Keynote Systems Report released earlier this summer over $25 Billion (USD) was lost in ecommerce due to users abandoning the web site prior to a purchase being made or during the process. The users just gave up because the load times (how fast it takes a page to be displayed in a browser) were painfully slow. Today’s online shoppers aren’t a real patient group, they want information presented in 12-18 seconds, or they are off to another site that works.
Privacy statements are about as exciting as filing taxes (unless you know your getting a refund) – they are out of necessity filled with legal terminology that needs to be addressed succinctly and in a way that makes a consumer feel comfortable about doing business with an ecommerce web site. Unfortunately, many ecommerce web site privacy statements look like an afterthought or are so “attorney driven” (three pages – who has time to read this?) people are turned off by them. It’s very important that a privacy statement be a compromise between legal and marketing.
We are a full service ad agency so I don’t mind shooting arrows in the direction of my peers – too much attention is being placed on web site advertising metrics (clickthrough rates, certified traffic to substantiate ad rates, etc.) and not enough on how people find and use an ecommerce web site. The industry standard web site analysis tool is Web Trends, but one of the least understood aspects of this product is tracking how people find and move around a web site via reports which can be pulled from the server log files; i.e. where did the visitors come from, what pages do they visit, how long do they stay, what are their traffic patterns, etc. Ecommerce companies should be analyzing these “digital customer tracks” to better understand how to improve their front end marketing processes and back end web site design.
Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of marketing experience He is the co-founder of a Northern California and Brussels Belgium based, privately held, Marketing Services and Software Company, Intelective Communications, Inc. http://www.intelective.com/ Intelective focuses exclusively on providing services to small to medium sized companies that need strategic and tactical marketing services. He can be reached at Lee@intelective.com
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Developing a Winning Ecommerce Strategy One bright spot on the economic horizons around the world seems to be continued consumer spending and ecommerce is clearly a part of this, with sales estimated to be in excess of $9.9 Billion in the next three months according to ACNielsen. But, there is a dark cloud hovering over this sunny ecommerce landscape called poor web site design. Let's explore some of the reasons why consumers are not reaching for their credit cards after perusing an ecommerce web site. There is a huge knowledge gap about how the web is really driving online and offline commerce. A recent eCommercePulse survey of more than 33,000 surfers conducted by Nielsen/Net ratings and Harris Interactive indicates ecommerce sites are driving more purchases offline (phone, catalogue, retail store sales) than online. Many consumers are using the web to effortlessly compare features and pricing – then, calling the company or visiting their localretail store to make a purchase. Clearly many companies need to factor this information in when analyzing their online and offline marketing expenditures and related ROI. According to a recent Zona Research and Keynote Systems Report released earlier this summer over $25 Billion (USD) was lost in ecommerce due to users abandoning the web site prior to a purchase being made or during the process. The users just gave up because the load times (the amount of time it takes a page to be displayed in a browser) were painfully slow. Today's online shoppers aren'ta real patient group, they want information presented in 12-18 seconds, or they are off to another site that worksUnfortunately many firms have allocated a disproportionate amount of resources for advertising and not enough on good web site design and back end infrastructure. It's critical to make the market awareof a site, but if the potential customers are not presented with the right navigation and menus (read information architecture) they will not buy. Case in point, according to recent Dataquest surveys (and others) between 20-40% of most users don't purchase because they can't figure out how to easily move around the web site. Many firms fail to properly integrate their ecommerce components with the overall site design. The in-house developers or outside design firm concentrate on the sexy parts of the web site design process (the graphics, branding, look and feel) and only focus on the ecommerce process after the primary web site design is completed– making ecommerce an afterthought. A large number of ecommerce web sites don't even list a phonenumber, arbitrarily forcing people to contact the company electronically– this is a real problem, as many people don't want to use e-mailor forms as their primary means of
communicating, they want the immediacy of the telephone. It's very surprising, but approx 30% of ecommerce sites don'thave a search capability that actually works – in many cases it justreturns gobblygook. This is a real irritant for many online shoppers who want to find goods and services quickly and efficiently – the need for speed should be the ecommerce merchants marketing mantra and a good search capability gives users a way to quickly find products. One of the most important parts of any web site is the home or index page, as it aggregates the design elements and information architecture. So many index page are cluttered and poorly designed, loaded with poor graphics, bad menu structures, oddball words or my absolute least favorite, 30-60 second Flash animation sequences which force the user to sit and stare at a blank screen while the animation loads. Privacy statements are about as exciting as filing taxes (unless you know your getting a refund) – they are out of necessity filledwith legal terminology that needs to be addressed succinctly and in a way that makes a consumer feel comfortable about doing business with an ecommerce web site. Unfortunately, many ecommerce web site privacy statements look like an afterthought, or, are so "attorneydriven" (three pages – who has time to read this?) people are turned offby them. It's very important that a privacy statement be acompromise doc brokered between legal and marketing.We are a full service ad agency so I don't mind shooting arrowsin the direction of my peers – too much attention is being placed onweb site advertising metrics (clickthrough rates, certified traffic to substantiate ad rates, etc.) and not enough on how people find and use an ecommerce web site. The industry standard web site analysis tool is Web Trends, but one of the least understood aspects of this product is tracking how people find and move around a web site via reports which can be pulled from the server log files; i.e. where did the visitors come from, what pages do they visit, how long do they stay, what are their traffic patterns, etc.? Ecommerce companies should be analyzing these "digital customer tracks" to better understand how to improve their front end marketing processes and back end web site design.
About the Author
Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of marketing experience He is the co-founder of a Northern California and Brussels Belgium based, privately held, Marketing Services and Software Company, Intelective Communications, Inc. http://www.intelective.com Intelective focuses exclusively on providing services to small to medium sized companies that need strategic and tactical marketing services. He can be reached at Lee@intelective.com
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Divesify With EcommerceSince 1972 Amsoil Inc. has progressively expanded its line of products. It began with one that proved to be the first of its catagory, an engine oil that had not been seen in the market place. Not too many years later, more need for superior synthetic automotive lubricants came into Amsoil Inc. awareness. Examples are the Food Grade Grease, racing applications and racing applications. By the mid eighties Amsoil Inc. had more products available. These products where not the property of other contracted companies but Amsoil Inc. was the marketing and manufacturing origin of a widening divesification of product lines. Opportunity to take advantage of these products in a variety of environments also proved successful. All types of automotive and commercial retailers where taking advantage of the technical support and leadership available. Racing has grown in atleast three areanas, no pun
intended. Motorcross, Marine and Snomobile have made huge strides in the field of spectator sports as well as participants. Dealers have the opportunity to sponsor a rider or team in the field of their choice. This environment is an excellent fit for promoting Amsoil. This an exciting business to be in because of its diversity of opportunites. The passion that keeps the engine of productivity moving is easy to refuel from a company that has the integrity at its foundation. The confidence that it will continue comes from the experience of the history and people behind Amsoil Inc. For more information, see www.lubedealer.com/hiebert
About the Author
Rudy Hiebert is an Amsoil Inc. dealer since 1989. The application of the Internet has increased his Amsoil activity ten fold. As a Certified Dealer, his downline of accounts and customers has stretched the continent with the use of the Internet.
© 2006 - All Rights Reserved.
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Drop Shipping Is Ecommerce Snake OilDrop shipping is not for everyone. Even though it is pitched as a cure for everything from starting up withoutmoney to being able to sell without investing in inventory, it does not cure the main problems that want to be drop shippers have.
Want to be web entrepreneurs are lead down the path of finding products that they can sell before they buy them.
And to do that, they are lead into buying all sorts of things from web sites to on line stores and lists of drop shippers. They get set up with what they need to sell. And they spend a lot of time and money in the process.
There is no doubt that they are, at the same time, given advice that they are starting a business. They are definitively told that they must comply with all those rules for success on the web. They are not misled.They mislead themselves. They get so excited and so tied up in their ideas that they are going to make millions that they do not stop to plan. They forge ahead with the plan to plan in the future. So they plan after their plan is already a failure.
The people supplying the drop shipping industry are not obligated to turn away customers. They have no way to determine who will or who will not fail. So they cannot be faulted for selling to people who run when they should be walking.
There is no doubt that some of these people do succeed and do very well for themselves. But 90 to 95
percent of them fail. A good percentage of them could have survived had they planned. But they fail because they chase the quick money.
Having said that, drop shipping is an excellent way for a small business to expand. If use properly it has many advantages.
Let us take a simple example.
Anna wants to sell amber and silver jewelry and exotics crystal pieces at home parties. And she wants to be able to vary her offering so that each time she attends a home party she has the opportunity to present other products. She also wants a wide variety of products.
Now amber and silver jewelry is both expensive and there are many different pieces that can be offered. So if she were to maintain an inventory she would have to tie up several thousand dollars in jewelry, many pieces of which she might not sell quickly.
Now if she get some samples so that her customers see the products and the quality, she can take orders and have the ordered pieces shipped either directly to her or to her customers. Actually, she is better off to have the pieces drop shipped to her so she can visit her customers and possibly make additional sales during the delivery process.
So she searches About the Author
Gary Granai is the Director of the Poland Chamber that maintains the drop shipping portal that has complete information about drop shipping. You can see it at
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eCatalog - a Key Component of Your eCommerce Initiative
In recent years, Internet virtually has become major driving force of economic and technological growth in many industries. It is fundamentally changing the way companies operate, do their trade and interact with each other and it is giving birth to new processes and business models that were previously unimaginable.
First type of the Internet business models that created a different business method was Business to Consumer (B2C) eCommerce. Business to Business eProcurement systems and web-based storefronts were two other models that emerged next. The eProcurement systems became widely popular instantly due to the factor that Internet-based automated buying solutions are capable of considerable reducing Maintenance, Repair and Operating expenses, which, in turn, makes direct impact on the bottom line of a company. Web-based storefront, on the other hand, provides a low-cost channel for the global marketing and sales of goods and services.
The next business model that changed the perception of doing business online was eMarketplaces. An eMarketplace is an online venue which brings together multiple buyers and sellers and makes it easier for them to communicate, collaborate and trade as members of a large community.
The fourth online business model has combined key aspects of all the above mentioned business methods and is known as Enterprise B2B Portal or Private B2B Exchange. The business world sees enormous changes across industries due to the emergence of this unique solution. Enterprise B2B Portal with supply chain management features is capable of streamlining procurement and sales processes, cutting overhead costs, increasing efficiency, while maximizing profit and helping bottom line savings for companies.
No doubt that B2B eCommerce presents enormous new business opportunities. But to realize these massive opportunities businesses must overcome some significant technical impediments. The most extreme and critical of these challenges involve creating, managing and distributing product content. All four of the above mentioned online business models face this crucial problem.
Product Content and eCatalog
Accurate and complete product content improves quality and speed of purchasing decisions by giving buyers the vital information needed. For sellers content differentiates their products and enables them to participate in multiple eMarketplaces, eProcurement systems and in their very own B2B Portal. The eMarketplaces and eProcurement systems must deliver content, with value added information such as ratings, reviews, regulatory compliances and service information to attract new users, retain the old ones and fulfill the needs of their diverse buyer and supplier communities.
Creating high quality product content is difficult because different suppliers use different descriptions, attributes and parameters to describe the same item. Managing product information becomes even more complex with the addition of value-added content such as editorial articles, service information and third party reviews.
Moreover, Buyers and Sellers have totally different approach and require different functions from a product content management solution. Buyers need a comprehensive content management system which allows them to take conclusive buying decision with minimum of effort and cost. Suppliers want a system that enables them to manage their brand, control their product descriptions, pricing, and discount policies.
The need for an advanced eCatalog
Despite its critical nature, product information management has been grossly underestimated by most of early eCommerce projects, which tend to focus on more high profile technologies, such as transaction engines and user interfaces. However, few of these B2B projects put required emphasize on the management of product content. As a result, many of them are beginning to realize that they have condoned the challenge
of managing product information and that such oversights are hindering the overall effectiveness and scalability of their eCommerce initiatives. Actually, very few of eCommerce initiatives today have the right resources to support the activities required for aggregating, maintaining, and delivering high quality product content. In order to overcome this major hurdle eCommerce initiatives have to improve their ability to acquire, manage and update product content with the help of an advanced eCatalog system.
What is an eCatalog?
An eCatalog is an Online product content management solution with powerful user interface which provides efficient navigation, searching and integration capabilities to organize and publish product information and enable real-time handling of business processes related to buying and selling.
An eCatalog stores product content in a single database and organizes product information under a certain categorized hierarchy. An eCatalog also have sophisticated searching opportunities so that buyers can locate products easily.
Classifying products
Usually product information is acquired from different sources and is often classified under different taxonomies. This makes product indexing difficult and in many cases products end up being listed under several categories. International Harmonized Codes, a taxonomy used by many countries for customs tariff purposes, is one of the example of such systems. Because of this problem, HC and similar taxonomies are not really suitable for eCommerce.
That's why, most advanced eCatalog systems use classification system like The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®), which provides an open, global multi-industry standard for well-organized and precise classification of products and services.
In e-catalogs the product content also has to undergo a normalization procedure to comply with a uniform product naming system. This uniformed nomenclature makes it easier for buyers to compare products and prices, and ensures exact match for relevant product searches. Depending on the quality of product information available, the eCatalog also requires rationalizing abbreviations and acronyms, synchronizing terminologies, converting unit of measurements, etc.
How businesses are loosing opportunities
Early eCatalog adopters made a crucial mistake by assuming that catalog integration is a fairly easy task in comparison to the other parts of eCommerce development. This misapprehension of reality occurred mainly due to lack of practical knowledge in this field and is based on the false assumption that one method fits for describing all similar products and it is possible to constrain product content with finite number of attributes and values. Observation shows that in many cases buyers are unable to take key procurement decisions due to poor content of the product, which results in lost business opportunities for eCommerce companies.
Benefits of using right eCatalog
An advanced eCatalog system similar to Rusbiz.com delivers a compelling value proposition. Using this type of solutions companies can integrate eCatalog capabilities into their business processes rapidly and manage sourcing, classifying, syndicating and publishing product content data effectively.
The return on investment from these solutions is also significant! Companies can expect increased revenue, better customer satisfaction, and shorter sales cycle.
About the Author
Nowshade Kabir is CEO of Rusbiz.com, a global B2B portal for small and midsize companies. Our distinctive web stores along with many outstanding features like e-marketplace, e-catalog,
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Ecommerce 101 – Online Credit Card Processing
Back in 1998 (through 2000 or so), I worked for a small company (called PaymentNet / then Signio) that handled online transactions. Verisign later purchased this company, and the product team I led integrated the "client" - the portion that took the credit card information and sent it to our servers for processing. The product name is Payflow Pro - maybe you've heard of it?
I'm going to limit this discussion to Visa / MasterCard credit cards -- Amex and others operate slightly differently.
First, there is the bank that the consumer’s credit card is attached to. That bank is called the "acquiring institution" ... it handles the "credit" you have on your credit card.
Then, there is the merchant bank. That's where the business opens up a "merchant account" to be able to accept various forms of credit cards.
The merchant account is connected to another company called a "processor". This "hidden" layer is the company that actually moves the funds from the acquiring institution to the merchant account (that process is called "settlement"). The processor also handles talking to the acquiring institution to make sure that the customer has the funds available (a process known as authorization).
Some well-known credit card processors are First Data Merchant Services (FDMS). Nova and PaymentTech.
Sitting on top of the processor is one of two primary systems either a swipe-card terminal (like those you see in Wal-Mart) or a "gateway" company that does basically the same thing, but over the Internet - that's what Verisign Payment Services and Authorize.Net do.
Note that the waters are even muddier in many cases, for example, Wells Fargo can act as every piece of the puzzle in some circumstances.
So, what actually happens when you purchase something at Wal-Mart using a credit card?
a) You place your items from your "basket" onto the counter and scan them. the checkout system provides a total.
b) You swipe your card through a "terminal", which reads the # off the magnetic stripe.
c) Wal-Mart dials their processor, and asks if you have the funds available on your credit card. The processor talks to your bank (the acquiring institution). If funds are available on the card, they are marked as "held" in your account (an authorization) -
if not, the transaction is declined (yuk). Authorizations that are never settled tie up your credit card funds for a period of time, usually 10 days or so.
d) At the end of the day, Wal-Mart marks all the transactions they want to receive funds for, and submits them to their processor in a "batch". The processor then contacts the acquiring institutions and transfers the funds to your merchant bank - which may make the funds available instantly (in a day or two), or may hold them for a while, or may hold the funds in a "rolling reserve" (keeping some funds held back in case a consumer fights the transaction, called a chargeback).
In the online world, replace the cash-register with an online shopping cart, and the electronic credit-card with terminal with called a "gateway" such as Payflow or Authorize.Net. the process is basically the same, with slightly more complexity.
My site, CommerceStore.com handles the entire "shopping cart" and storefront process, including talking to the gateway. It knows how to talk to every major gateway (online credit card terminal) available. In addition, we have direct relationships with various banks that can help you open a merchant account in the US or in Canada, and the system works with PayPal. There's a whole lot more, including AutoResponders, built-in affiliate system, etc.
As a merchant, all you really need to know is that all services purchased through CommerceStore.com will work together. Be careful going "a-la-carte" with ecommerce credit-card services: if the gateway you chose can't talk to the processor your bank uses, or your software can't talk to the gateway, you're hosed. That situation was MUCH more common (things not working together) back in the mid/late 90's than it is today. However, most “brick and mortar” banks (like your local branch) still don’t have a clue about online credit-card processing … if they attempt to sell you a “leased terminal”, it’s best to run the other way and find a solution from reputable online source.
Nick Temple is a former engineer for what is now Verisign Payment Services. He can be reached at his website, http://www.nicktemple.com./ He is part-owner of the CommerceStore.com complete ecommerce solution.
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Ecommerce: A New ArtformWhat creative project do you have in the back of your mind? Writing that novel? Putting together a bluegrass band? Painting the sunsets over the Rio Grande? How about starting a business?When you think of the term creative endeavor, does launching or running a business come to mind? To most creative people, business is the antithesis of creativity. Yet slowly, ever so slowly, the nature of business is changing. The need for innovation in business is gradually overtaking the need for control as the resource that makes the difference between success and failure.Really? But isn't business essentially about control? Controlling resources and controlling people? Yes, but business is also about innovation and communication, both of which live at the heart of creativity.There are two reasons why I believe creativity will become increasingly valued in business. Control is certainly critical in business, both resources and people need to be managed carefully. But control is easier to teach than innovation. Given an equal need for both innovation and control, control is the easier skill or talent to find and implement. Thus innovation rises in value because it's more difficult to find and utilize effectively.Are innovation and control equal needs? They certainly haven't been in the past. Control has been the leading force in business since the beginning of the industrial age. That age has ended however, and we now live in an service-based information world of commerce. This means the resource that needs to be controlled is more likely to be information rather than, say, coal. Information can be managed easily across electronic wiring and storage media. That means important work of business will be creating and disseminating information, and that requires a creative mind.The other reason I believe creativity will rise in importance in business is that in our information-based economy, the resources required for business are fewer and less costly. If you can run a storefront on the Internet that can reach millions across the globe, you don't need capital to build a store that sits in a city and reaches thousands. The
juice it takes to make the Internet company successful is not capital so much as the creative ability to reach and build a customer base over an infrastructure that's effectively free.Napster was a wonderful example of this. A teenager was able to create a service that was quickly utilized by millions upon millions of users. Of course Napster had a glaring flaw: the company was trading in products created by others, and trading without the consent of those who produced the products. But the heart of the matter is that someone without substantial resources could build a highly-used, well-recognized brand out of little more than a creative idea. Using the same infrastructure, surely someone will come up with another intriguing idea that will capture our imagination and a big audience, and it will probably happen soon. And the next wave of creative Internet entrepreneurs will have learned from the Internet crash and its aftermath.The Internet isn't dead. It's just stumbling a bit while taking its toddler steps. Internet start-up ideas will continue to attract creative people, simply because the free infrastructure invites innovation and resists control. Control is the deathword to creativity. Creative people have shunned business for that reason alone. Yet in a world where creativity and innovation become the critical elements for success, you bet creative people will begin to see commerce as an avenue of expression.During the high days of Internet exuberance, I used this column to make the claim that business will be the creative medium of the early 21st century. I still believe it's true, simply because the basic elements still exist a encourage a creative approach to business. The resources to support a new company do not require control so much as creative manipulation. Given this free and open canvas, creative people will rush in, despite the lingering notion that business is somehow anti-creative.
About the Author
Rob Spiegel is the author of Net Strategy (Dearborn) and the upcoming Shoestring Entrepreneur's Guide to Internet Start-ups (St. Martin's Press). You can reach Rob at spiegelrob@aol.com
© 2006 - All Rights Reserved.
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eCommerce - A PlanPlanning an ecommerce website is like building a house - architecture and budget need to be agreed before the decoration. AN AGREED REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION MUST BE DRAWN UP AS THE FIRST STAGE BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE IS DONE - ANY OTHER APPROACH WILL ONLY LEAD TO CONFUSION AND WORSE. Once an AGREED REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION has been agreed then solutions need to be evaluated and costed against that specification are: - Project management - Hardware - Web design and software - Site marketing - Project management: All aspects of the project need to be managed. Decide who is going to do it and properly plan the requirements, activities, outcomes, milestones and timings. Hardware: Your choices here are a managed service or your own server. The security and disaster recovery aspect that is achieved by hosting with a major provider is very important. Only go with your own server if you have the experience and facilities. Design and Software: Site design Develop site templates and test them with real people. They have to be easy to use and navigate. Don't let "design" drive the site; let ease of use and sales drive the "design". Think how the customer thinks. Software At least 5 solutions need to be considered. - Updating - Shopping cart - Forum - Email - Statistics Updating There are 2 realistic routes here. Either an online or an offline, PC based content management system (CMS). The online CMS can be either an Open Source CMS (Open Source means any application that has been made available, generally free, to developers to view and modify freely. Examples of Open Source applications are MySQL and PHP) or commercial. There are pros and cons to both routes. An online system is available to anyone with relevant security clearance anywhere any time. A PC based system is, obviously, limited to the PCs running the licenses. An example of a PC based system is Macromedia Contribute which integrates with Dreamweaver. There are a whole range of online Commercial and Open Source options such as SuiteWise™, Drupal, Joomla, and Website Baker etc. However, even this is complicated by the fact that some of the shopping cart solutions also contain CMS that may be sufficient for many companies' requirements. Shopping cart and CRM There are also 2 realistic routes for the shopping cart - Open Source or commercial. There are excellent Open Source shopping carts such as OSCommerce and Zen, but also excellent commercial solutions such as Actinic and Customer Focus Quick Order Portal (which comes with a complete CMS). There are other factors to consider with the shopping cart: - Does it have its own or does it easily integrate with your exiting stock control systems? - Does it integrate easily with
accounting systems (e.g. Sage, QuickBooks)? - Does it have or integrate easily with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems that may be proposed in future? Forum Many CMS have good integrated forums but if they do not our recommendation would be to use a good Open Source package such as PunBB or phpBB. They are free, robust and easy to integrate and customise into any site. Email Most CMS, shopping carts and forums have email solutions. However, some solutions are very basic. If the chosen shopping cart solution that best meets the ecommerce and other requirements does not have an effective integrated email solution and if the same be true of the CMS and forum solutions then stand alone Open Source applications such as PHPlist are one alternative solution and the other is an online solution such as Constant Contact or many others. Statistics This is arguably the most important part of the package. If you do not know how visitors to your website and in the shop are behaving, what turns them on and what turns them off then it is far, far harder to improve sales and site profitability. Commercial applications such as WebTrends and ClickTracks need to be evaluated for best fit. SITE MARKETING There are 4 major areas to consider here. - Offline marketing - e.g. in-store. What works most cost effectively to drive traffic and orders via the web from non-web activities. - Site optimisation - how to make sure technical structure, copy, content, back-links and a range of other factors are initially and remain optimised so that as many high search engine placements on relevant searches are obtained. - Pay per click and other online marketing - how to get traffic from advertising against key words and phrases used in search engines and from adverts on other sites. - Email - how to grow the email list and use it to grow profitable sales. In summary: - Manage the project - Think how the customer thinks - Get excellent software to make finding product and price easy - Make terms clear and payment simple - Ensure you are in stock and and have achievable delivery timescales - Make sure you have a good CRM system and clear communications - mail, phone, emai - Market the site appropriately - Know what's going on - use your stats to test, track and try Cost ............ well how long is a pice of string, but you could be up and running for far less than the cost of new premises!!! About the author:Richard Hill is a director of E-CRM Solutions and has spent many years in senior direct and interactive marketing roles. E-CRM - http://www.e-crm.co.uk - helps you to grow by getting you more customers that stay with you longer. We provide practical solutions that pay for themselves. We help you to make sure that your marketing works.
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eCommerce and other strange animalseCommerce, Ecommerce, e-commerce; however you spell it, the term is now firmly lodged in our language. So just what is it?At it's most simplistic level; eCommerce is simply the buying and selling of goods, services or information via the World Wide Web, email or other pathways on the Internet. It is here to stay and will play a bigger role in our lives over the years ahead. Ecommerce and Ebusiness are interchangeable terms. eCommerce can be broken down into the following sections:- eTailing. These are mainly "virtual" storefronts which act as a catalogue of products of merchants and usually include a "shopping cart" system to enable consumers to purchase online with the use of credit cards. Today's Internet climate dictates that if you can't buy what you see online while you are online; you will probably lose the sale. The great advantage of etailing is international coverage at minimum cost and the ability to trade 24 hours a day with minimum staffing levels. The benefits to consumers are shopping from home and a wide range of choice. This range of choice can sometimes be a downfall as it confuses some consumers who in frustration may give up on buying the product at all!- EDI (Electronic Data exchange). This is the business to business (b2b) flow of information between companies or within a company itself. The 90's saw the concept information equalling power. Whatever creates power also generates money and therefore creates new enterprises to supply this information. EDI is being replaced with XML. He with the most relevant data on his hard drive wins!- Email and faxing. Direct marketing through email. Unfortunately, it also creates the equivalent of what we find in our physical mailboxes every day; junk mail - electronic junk mail is known as spam. Terrabytes of spam is circulating around the Internet at any given time, which slows down our global network. While this is one of the negative aspects of eCommerce, direct marketing ploys, if carried out properly are a very successful and acceptable way of generating income for a business- Security services. The broad exposure of (and sometimes hyped) dangers of credit card and direct debit transactions via the Internet has rocketed the growth of many companies who provide security services to protect consumer & business transactions. This can include authorisation/encryption technologies and creating secure areas on web sites. This will be a growth area for
as long as eCommerce is with us because you can guarantee that as soon as a new "unhackable" technology is introduced - someone has hacked it. Some hackers view themselves as rebels, antiestablishment and "socialists"; but in reality they actually fuel the security services market and provide huge dividends for shareholders in successful security services firms. Good one guys... you won't change the world for the better by sniffing around bank accounts!- Statistics. Demographics and survey results regarding Internet habits is a huge industry. Web planners rely on information from these sources in planning web sites and justifying marketing and promotional expenediture.- B2B (Business to Business). When I began in Computer Hardware sales some years ago, I spent a great deal of time and money on national and international phone calls to locate components. In 2001, if contacting a supplier meant having to pick up a telephone; I wouldn't bother doing business with them. The B2B world of today means that wholesalers and retailers have a means of fast and efficient communications and transactions; the Internet. Bill Gates is reported to have said something along the lines of: "In a few years, there will only be 2 types of businesses, those that are online and those that are out of business." You may not buy anything online yourself, but I'll guarantee that most of the companies that supply you with goods and services do - knowingly or not we all have our role in this brave new world......Michael Bloch michael@tamingthebeast.net http://www.tamingthebeast.netTutorials, web content and tools, software and community.Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions. _____________________________________________ Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article, please acknowledge "Taming the Beast" by including a hyperlink or reference to the website (www.tamingthebeast.net) & send me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles FREE for reproduction!
About the Author
Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and web developer. Many other free web design, ecommerce development and Internet articles, tutorials, tools and resources are available from his award winning site; Taming the Beast.net (http://www.tamingthebeast.net)
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Ecommerce - Boost Your Business ROIDid you know that over 90% of all online orders are processed by credit cards and that web sites that offer customers the ability to pay with credit cards can achieve up to 300% more sales than those that do not? It's a fact. Not only do more customers buy, statistics prove that customers actually buy more when given the option to pay with their credit card. Here are some recent trends that will reinforce the need to sell your product or service on the internet- if your business is not yet doing so: -At the end of 2000, over 400 million people worldwide had Internet access. That number is expected to reach over 1 billion by the end of 2005! -Almost 100 million people in the U.S. are now making a purchase after using the internet to conduct their research. -U.S. Consumers spent a record $13.7 billion in online purchases during the 2003 holiday season. A follow-up study conducted jointly by Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen/Net Ratings pegged sales during the 2004 holiday season at $23.2 billion, up 25% from the previous year. This comes at a time when traditional retail sales are growing in the low single digits. -Forrester projects that total e-commerce sales in the U.S. will increase by approximately 20% per year, growing to $229 billion in 2008, making online retail transactions 10% of total U.S. retail sales by 2008. In addition, in a survey conducted among more than 500 small business owners, the overwhelming majority indicated that they were either very satisfied or at least somewhat satisfied with their company's e-commerce return on investment
(ROI). It's no wonder- when compared to traditional forms of direct marketing such as mail order catalogs, the cost of establishing and maintaining an e-commerce website is minimal. Additionally, new affordable, user-friendly storefront applications simplify the task of establishing and maintaining a professional e-commerce website. It is now affordable and doable- even for the novice small business owner- to convert their brick-and-mortar operation into a click-and-mortar operation and triple their revenues in a very short period of time! What’s more, if your company sells products to consumers or businesses and you don't have a fully automated e-commerce website, your business is simply not operating at its full potential and you're sending customers to your competition! It is no longer a luxury for the small to mid-sized retailer to have an e-commerce enabled site-but a necessity to stay competitive in the marketplace. About the author:Rick Caraballo is the author of this article and the CEO of Avance Web Marketing- http://www.avancewebmarketing.com,/a South Florida Web Marketing firm that provides state-of-the-art web hosting, web design, e-commerce and marketing consulting services- including Hispanic Marketing. E-Commerce services include merchant services, as well as, the Excerpo® Shopping Cart- a state-of-the-art e-business storefront application.
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eCommerce, Communications and the Global Internet Community.In our increasingly online world, cyberspace is still experiencing "gold fever", but there have been and will be many casualties. Only the innovative, responsive, financially sound and flexible will survive. Many new markets are joining the world of eCommerce; over the last 6 months I have seen a remarkable increase in visitors to my site from countries such as India. This trends means more visitors to our sites perhaps; but it definitely means more competition between web developers, etailers and other service providers.India will be extraordinarily competitive in web development, due largely to favourable exchange rates. In Australia, our struggling dollar still favours us in securing work with U.S companies, but not to the same degree. I can see that the Internet will play a considerable role in the valuation of our currencies in the future.Up until now, the Internet has been very focused on the U.S. By 2003, the Asia Pacific region will catch up and overtake in regards to Internet usage. While we are all busy submitting our sites to the U.S and U.K search engines, have we considered their Indian or Taiwanese counterparts? There are literally thousands of Asia-Pacific search engines and indices. Some of them will grow to be major players in the next five years.The Western world tends to forget that we are a minority. Only about eight percent of the earth's population speaks English as the primary language. As countries such as India, Korea, Taiwan and perhaps even China open up, we will need to adapt to this change. The big players can afford to have their pages translated into different languages. For those of us without the budget, perhaps even a simple greeting in a variety of languages on our pages would encourage a visitor with limited English abilities to explore our sites. If you are going to translate your site, ensure that the person undertaking the translation really knows their stuff, as a single word misinterpreted can turn a welcome into a curse. The proper use of images and other visual cues can also assist in relaying information more effectively than English text.One of the other ways we, the smaller companies, can welcome these newcomers without spending a cent is to drop our xenophobic reactions to "foreigners". There are no "foreigners" as the Internet is now more than ever a global community. Instead of fearing these new arrivals stealing our bread and butter, we should be seeking to establish alliances with them. We should be striving to learn a little about the culture of the emerging electronic economies. This will assist us in using the correct protocols during business dealings.As web masters, we receive many communications via email from our "foreign" visitors. Some of these emails are, in our way of thinking, poorly worded. As an example I received a note the other day that didn't have the usual signature line of "Regards" or "Sincerely", but had one
word at the bottom of the message - "Waiting". Many of our visitors to whom English is a second language struggle with email writing, sometimes appearing rude to us. Perhaps we become impatient with this and devalue the communication or ignore it.Bad move... both from a human and business point of view.Nothing angers me more than to have an email unanswered. I am sure most others feel the same. I have written to a large U.S Internet presence four times in the last month, without a response. It's a shame, not for me, but for them.... I was a customer with a sizeable amount of money to spend. I'll go elsewhere.... and remember my dealings with the other company... for years.In traditional business we are taught that an unhappy customer will tell 10 others about their experience. In ebusiness, an unhappy customer can tell tens of thousands through newsgroup postings - that's well worth keeping in mind.When we do receive communications from someone and it's apparent that they may have troubles with our language, take the time to try and understand what it is they require. This may entail several notes back and forth, but it will be worth the effort in the long run.From the "warm and fuzzy" (human) point of view; the Internet has allowed us as a species to communicate in real time with any other part of the planet. We are no longer dependant on government propaganda to shape our views of a particular country; we can hear it directly from the people. This is a real privilege, and we tend to forget it is.The Internet has formed the basis of my living for some time now, but equally as important, I have gained a greater knowledge of our world and more importantly - of what it is to be a human. I believe The Internet as a whole, not government or individuals, will be the driving force behind mankind finally seeing past skin colour and creed to recognise "the person".Related Article: http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles/visitorfeedback.htmMichael Bloch michael@tamingthebeast.net http://www.tamingthebeast.netTutorials, web content and tools, software and community.Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions. _____________________________________________ Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article, please acknowledge "Taming the Beast" by including a hyperlink or reference to the website (www.tamingthebeast.net) & send me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles FREE for reproduction!
About the Author
Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and web developer. Many other free web design, ecommerce development and Internet articles, tutorials, tools and resources are available from his award winning site; Taming the Beast.net (http://www.tamingthebeast.net)
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eCommerce development for Microsoft Great Plains: tools and highlights for programmer
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics and eEnterprise was designed in earlier 1990th as ERP, which can be easily transferable to the winning Database and OS platform and it was originally available on Mac and PC – Mac OS and Microsoft Windows respectively. Graphical platforms battle is pretty much over and now with eCommerce demands, we should look at Great Plains Dynamics tables structure:
· Naming Convention. Great Plains was designed to be ready to move to the winning database platform and probably this is why we see this a bit complicated naming convention in place: SOP10100, RM00101, IV00101 – these are samples: SOP header, Customer master, Inventory master. First – we see module prefix: SOP – Sales Order Processing, RM – Receivables management, IV – Inventory control, etc., then 0 stays for the master files, 1 – so-called work files (before transaction being posted), 2 – open files (after transaction is posted) and 3 – historical files (when you close the year in General Ledger – transactions are moved from open to history files). So as you see – logic is present and structured, but it is not friendly to the developer, who never seen and worked with Great Plains Dynamics.
· Tables Groups. Great plains was designed to first serve mid-size businesses and then with the availability of third party modules – the intention was to compete on corporate ERP market with Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP and others big players. This is why we see the whole cluster of tables to store, say Sales Invoice: SOP Header, SOP Lines, SOP Distribution, RM Key file, etc.
From the Forms side (or screens) you can see more human-readable names: SOP Entry, RM_Customer_Maintenance, POP_Entry or the like. But these legacy Great Plains Dexterity names do not help eCommerce developer – only probably as the reference on which table works with specific screen.
Let’s take a look at the tools available:
· eCommerce – together with eOrder, and other eXXX products it should be considered as legacy and phase out product, based on
Microsoft eCommerce server and ASP technology, today Microsoft has new paradigm - .Net and ASPX World
· eConnect – was specially created for eCommerce developers, who integrate Microsoft Great Plains with eCommerce web interface. This tool covers a lot of Great Plains objects creation and retrieving functionality, however it does have restrictions, because it was not intended as replacement to Great Plains Dexterity shell. For example – if you create Orders in SOP via Web interface/eConnect – it is difficult manipulate these orders (transfers to Invoices, backorders, reallocations, etc.). Another issue with eConnect – developers are kind of used to the fact that Microsoft provides free SDK to its products, Microsoft CRM for example has freely downloadable Microsoft CRM SDK. For eConnect you have to pay license and be on Microsoft Business Solutions annual support to get version upgrades. Also if you are ISV and develop your GP integration to your customers – you have licensing issue with Microsoft.
· Custom SOP/AR stored procedures. Microsoft Business Solutions partners in their practice usually have several Great Plains integration projects implemented where integration is realized on the stored procedures level and transactions are created and manipulated in Great Plains SOP. So – you may end up seeking this type of help
Good luck with implementation, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 866-528-0577 or 630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com
About The Author
Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com/ ) – Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, Detroit, Los Angeles
help@albaspectrum.com
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eCommerce Fundamentals"Blocking and Tackling" - A quick take a some eCommerce fundamentals eCommerce can be VERY complex. To offer a world class customer experience, retailers must incorporate technologies and functionality that exceeds rising customer expectations. On the flip side however, site fundamentals still play a very large role in converting visitors into customers. Many retailers surprisingly lose sight of these site basics and leave significant sales on the table. This brief examines 4 quick "fundamentals" every eCommerce manager cannot afford to lose sight of. Think Fast Speed has become less of a problem due to the penetration of broadband, but don't forget that a significant number of people still shop by a dialup connection. When creating a site framework, designers and e-commerce teams should ensure that the site is developed with pages loading in less than 9 seconds (over a dial-up connection). Our recommended page size is within 60-70k in bytes. At that amount, sites will likely load within the maximum wait time of 9 seconds. Online retailers should avoid flash at all costs within their transactional site. Flash's artistic aspects may help you establish a brand presence - but it will likely lose potential customers before they have even searched within your store. Image is important Images are a very important aspect of selling online and are often neglected. All product images should be of the highest resolution possible, be much larger than the product
page original, and have multiple views. Dynamic imaging capabilities can improve the user experience to an even higher level by increasing interactivity (zoom & rotate). At a minimum - retailers should have at least two additional views outside of the product page image to help build emotion. Be my guest Shoppers do not like being forced to do anything, especially when they are ready to open their wallets. Forcing a shopper to register on your site before purchasing is a sure way to drive a portion of your traffic to your competitors. Too often, shoppers do not have the time or the inclination to fill out a lengthy form explaining what types of information they desire. Always offer the ability to checkout as a guest. You will see less customer leakage within the checkout process and can still offer the option to register when the sale is completed. Make sure it's "above the fold" Your homepage is the most important page within your eCommerce store. It sets the initial tone for the shopping experience and offers your best promotions and products to your visitors. Users typically visually scan a web page from top to bottom and then from left to right. All critical content and navigation options should be obvious to the shopper without having to scroll down. If you have your best promotions "below the fold" - you can bet that a large percentage of browsers are not scrolling down to see it. About the author:http://www.trinityinsight.com
© 2006 - All Rights Reserved.
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Ecommerce Hosting ConsiderationsWebsite hosting can be a complex undertaking. Determining how much space you need, how much transfer, finding a reliable host, and getting everything online is no simple task. Add ecommerce to the mix and things become even more complex. This article will deal with some of those additional complications to finding a host for an online store. All of the same considerations to finding general hosting can be applied to ecommerce hosting, there are simply a few additional ones that need some attention.Basics- Disk Space and TransferThe core states of any kind of hosting, ecommerce or not, remain space and transfer, or traffic. Generally measured in monthly increments, your space and transfer will place a crucial role in determining just what size plan you need. Ecommerce sites will, generally speaking, require more space and transfer than an equivilant sized site without ecommerce. This is due to the presence of the shopping cart upon which the online storefront is based. Shopping cart programs are installed to the account on which they operate, requiring space, and their scripts for running the store will require additional transfer to handle customers as they browse, add items to their cart, and check out. Will there be a tremendous amount of extra transfer required by the cart? That depends on how many use the cart and on the cart itself. This is why its best to start small and having a clear upgrade path to handle future popularity.Prospective online merchants will generally have a good idea how many products they'll be selling initially. This will vary wildly from merchant to merchant, and many merchants don't put their entire stocks online. It is wise to start with a considered selection of products first, especially if you wish to initially keep your hosting plan small and upgrade as the store prospers. Those with a great deal of products need to be aware they will probably be facing a bigger monthly fee for a larger hosting plan. Once the decision is made regarding the products, attention can be turned to finding a suitable shopping cart program to contain them.Shopping CartThe choice of shopping cart can be a personal one. Those entirely new to ecommerce will probably not have any experience with any kind of shopping cart software. There are a number of popular choices, and most hosting companies will provide one, if not a variety, from which you can choose. It is important to find a shopping cart that suits the individual user, as attempting to change your shopping down the road can be a long process that will, most likely, bring your store down during a transitional period. Don't immediately jump at the first cart a host offers. Ask if they have demos and try them out. Be sure it's a program you can learn and use, as it is the primary way you'll be doing your online business. Even if you have a large business and have a design firm setting up the cart, a rudimentary knowledge of the cart's processes is highly recommended.Learn as much about your prospective shopping cart software as possible. Make
sure it supports SSL, a common site security protocol that will help keep your customer's credit card numbers safe when ordering online. It will need to support your merchant account and payment gateway. In many cases a host might bundle these services, so compatibility isn't an issue. If you secured your merchant services separately from hosting, be sure they are compatible. Find out if the cart has a recommended maximum product limit and, of course, try not to exceed it. The store may slow down and perform poorly if there are too many products in it.Finally, make sure it will do everything you want it to do. Some merchants sell services and downloadable items that don't conform exactly to the order-product-ship-product flow. If your cart doesn't support these features by default, there may be 3rd party add-ons that will provide this functionality. Miva Merchant is one such shopping cart with a very active 3rd party developer community providing a wide range of add-ons, or "modules" to extend the feature set of the original program. The merchant will have to buy these add-ons and have them installed on their own initiative, though, and the hosting company will not be able to support them.Reliability and SupportPerhaps of greatest importance is reliability in your chosen host. Think in terms of a "brick and mortar" storefront. If someone locks the front door during business hours, then no customers can come in and nothing is sold. Similarly, if an online store is down at any hour, no customers can come in and nothing is sold. You want the most reliable hosting for such a mission-critical site. Never just take the word of a hosting company's site in regards to their uptime. Do research and look for customer reviews of your prospective host. Online merchants should always be willing to pay more for a reliable hosting company with good uptime and support. A good rule of thumb is to stay away from free or "bargain basement" hosts, since support and uptime are usually the first things to suffer with this kind of hosting.ConclusionsFinding the right ecommerce hosting company requires a few additional considerations. Decide on your products, your shopping cart, and then shop for your hosting company. You will need more space and transfer than an equivalent site, but start small with your product selection and you can still save money on your hosting. Find a shopping cart that's easy for you to use and understand, as switching at a later date can result in downtime and a lot of work transferring your products. Finally, make sure your host has solid uptime, as an online store that's down isn't generating any sales.
About the Author
Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for http://www.apollohosting.com/ and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers.
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Ecommerce Hosting For Your Online BusinessWhen you plan to start an online business, you will need to find a reliable web host that meets your requirements. Searching for a reliable and cheap web host is not an easy task. But if you know what you are looking for, it makes your task simpler.
You can trust a cheap web host only if it meets your business requirements. The process of verification comprises of some common issues and some other issues specific to your business.
A major concern is the quality of support provided by the host. You could e-mail a cheap webhosting company a few times to get an estimate of the response time they provide.
You should also try to analyze the quality of the answers provided by them. Are the answers really in-depth or do they just cover the basic things? Make enquiries about the various methods of support. Most webhosting companies offer online support personnel, message boards and help desks.
A webhosting company that provides the correct balance of substance and promptness would be an ideal solution for you.
Some key points to consider before choosing your web host:
1. Storage Space
It is an important parameter to begin your search for a reliable web host. You require at least 100 MB space for even a simple site. Most good web hosts offer a minimum of 1 GB space to their customers.
2. Bandwidth
It is another important part of the verification process. Most good web hosts offer 25 to 50 GB Bandwidth.
3. Support System
As discussed in the beginning of the article, it is the most important point to check.
4. Secure Servers
A secure server is an essential requirement if you are selling products/services online. Try to look for web hosting companies providing SSL encryption since this will guarantee security for all money transactions conducted on your site.
5. Private CGI-BIN
It is a good scheme to have a private CGI-BIN directory for the safety of your files. This is where you store your binary scripts and
interactive programs including shopping carts and payment processing.
6. Web Log
This would help you a lot to keep track of various statistics for your business. These statistics aid you to develop new strategies to retain your present customers and attract new customers.
7. Operating System and Program Language Capabilities
All reputed web hosting companies allow front page on either a UNIX or Windows based system. Many web hosts provide both Windows and UNIX based hosting but the rates may differ.
8. Credibility
The web host should be reputed amongst its customer base.
9. Physical Location
Last, but not the least, the physical location of the servers is also an important consideration. Is the location prone to natural calamities or political insecurity?
A very practical and useful method to find a good web host is to discuss with people you know (vendors/business associates/friends) that have web sites. Enquire about their experiences with their current and past webhosting services.
Most of the cheap webhosting companies assure you of free technical support. However, a major concern with many of these companies is that you learn about their incapability when it is too late. The fact is that they simply fail to deliver their promises. Their cheap rates do not allow for the proper staffing needed to deliver the required customer support.
With a high quality and reputed webhosting company, you will pay a little more but the truth is, in business, you get what you pay for. So, if you are really serious about your business and also your time, consider web hosts starting at the top.About the Author
Copyright © Active-Venture.com's (http://www.active-venture.com/) ecommerce webhosting service. This article may be reprinted freely online or in print, provided an active link is made to our website at http://www.active-venture.com/
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Ecommerce Hosting - How To Choose A Merchant AccountFor a number of e-Businesses, discovering the best way to accept payments is a frustrating task. As the Internet is an instant medium, it is highly recommended that a ecommerce website must accept credit/debit cards and online checks as modes of payment. In order to accept credit card transactions, you require setting up a merchant account with a merchant bank. As soon as you set up a merchant account, an online processor can provide you with the software or gateway you need to transact.
Selecting a suitable merchant account is considered to be one of the most tough business decisions you make as their existence has almost doubled and are now into more than hundreds. At the time of choosing a merchant account, you should be aware of the cost involved in setting up the account. Refer to the list below and don't forget to ask about each of these items before agreeing to an account.
Application Fee The application fee is compulsory so an agent or bank can "research" you as a potential customer. Few firms are more likely to repay this fee if your application is not accepted while others won't. It is always advisable not to pay an application fee that will not be refunded in case you are rejected.
Minimum Account Billing This fee requires you to do a least amount of business with a merchant bank. A majority of banks require a monthly minimum of at least 25 dollars in transaction fees. Anything less than 35 dollars minimum is satisfactory.
Statement Fee In case there is a considerable minimum-billing need, then there should be no statement fee. Still, a number of banks charge this to cover administrative costs. If you are assessed a statement fee, it shouldn't exceed 10 dollars per month.
Charge back Fee In case a customer is not satisfied with their purchase, can't get a refund, or is just looking for something free, you may be faced with a charge back attempt. Under this, the bank will return customer's fund and debit your account for the full amount. Always make sure to ask about your bank's charge back policy. Most banks tend to be more loyal to cardholders than merchants so protect yourself by
preventing charge back fees.
Transaction Fee This fee, which is usually about 2-3 percent of the purchase, is assessed on every transaction. If a product costs US$100, the bank would receive US$2-3 for their services. While rates are relative to the nature of your business, anticipated volume and your credit history, you should never pay more than 3 percent.
Setup Fee This covers administrative work necessary to establish your account. In case you're charged an installation or programming fee, there shouldn't be a setup fee. There is a considerable amount of work completed to create merchant accounts, so fees of US$50-500 should be expected.
At the time of approaching banks or an intermediary about a merchant account, always keep in mind the following tips:
1. Read the terms, conditions and anticipated charges carefully. Don't sign anything until your questions are answered to your satisfaction. Take time to understand exactly what you are getting and how much you are paying to get it.
2. Do you require a reserve account? It shouldn't be, but if you are a start-up Internet business, have poor to marginal credit, anticipate low volumes or run a "risk" business, it may be required.
3. How long before funds are available to you? Ideally it should not take more than 72 hours from the time an order or transaction is processed.
Given below are some of the options available with whom you can setup your merchant account.
Paypal: With a free PayPal account one can accept credit cards on your website immediately Click bank: It offers distribution of digital products and has an instant affiliate network promoting your business. North American Bancard: It is a full service payment solution provider of Credit, Debit, EBT, Check Conversion and Guarantee, Checks by Phone & Net.About the Author
Copyright © Active-Venture.com's (http://www.active-venture.com/) ecommerce hosting service. This article may be reprinted freely online or in print, provided an active link is made to http://www.active-venture.com/
© 2006 - All Rights Reserved.
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eCommerce, How much does it cost?
Making profits with your existing website design or creating a new online store can be exciting, affordable and most of all; rewarding. Mmmm . . . that's what the last sales guy told me.
What is eCommerce (or selling via the Internet)? It is similar to selling through a physical building's business storefront, with one big difference: the costs for eCommerce are lower. The lower costs alone make it a lot more affordable for someone to start up a business or expand their storefront business onto the Internet.
So, the cost to do online business depends on how much time and effort you are able to put in and the eCommerce developer you choose to work with. Generally, developers should try to enable their clients to be as independent as possible in areas such as daily site updates, processing online orders, customer feedback and low or no cost (except time) online marketing.
Hosting costs are determined by: the amount of 1) server space you require for product photos, e-mail accounts, and 2) bandwidth - the more customers that visit your store, the more bandwidth you will require. Typically an online store setup may cost $15 to $90 per month for hosting.
Other costs include online store program and designing the storefront. There are many programs to choose from with some being free to some costing thousands. As with anything you buy, you do get what you pay for. Clients like to use online store setups that are easy for them to use when they need to do product updates and simple design changes. That way the initial higher cost for the client's online store will be offset by ease of use and low maintenance costs to operate over the long term.
Next we have graphical design costs, that can range from $70 for a pre-designed store template to a built from scratch setup that can cost $500 and up. If you have only a few
products I would suggest starting with the pre-designed store template as the cost is low and the look is quite professional, with only a small amount of time required to input text and make some minor modifications to suit your requirements. If you have quite a few products and they are quite different from each other, you may incur more cost to develop the graphic design as each product category will have a look designed just for that category.
Finally, we need to open up the store for business: market the store and bring in some customers to buy the products. As mentioned earlier, there is no-cost marketing that can be done. For example, the site can be submitted to the primary search engines, adding the store listing to online directories that are relevant to the product or service, and exchanging store links with other sites that are similar but not direct competition.
What are we selling? When your starting out with a new product, try to stay with a unique product that is light in weight, as shipping costs are often overlooked in starting up an online business. If you already have existing products to sell, revisit shipping costs and see where you can find savings.
I find most business owners sell what they are most passionate about. Some of your present hobbies or interests could sell as the end product, as items purchased by other people. Some of the most successful online stores are a result of one's passion and desire to share their dream with others and if done logically and thoughtfully with a good web developer, can result in financial rewards at a low investment cost through an online store.
Since 1997, Dennis Dadey, Chief Designer at IR Design, has been helping people with e-commerce applications. Find out more about IR Design at http://www.irdesign.com/.
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eCommerce: Installing and Configuring your Shopping CartYou decided you're going to sell your products online. Or perhaps you don't want to sell them yet, only display your catalog. So how do you go ahead and implement your virtual shop? The answer is short: you need to install a shopping cart in your website. But let's go step by step and expand this simple answer to a brief explanation of the process. It will be better to know all the players involved in bringing your store up to life. There are many shopping cart solutions out there, you need to find the one that meets your needs. You will find open source solutions and paid ones. They will have different types of customer support and some of them may be ready to install in your hosting account. You need to find the right solution for you, if you're not an experienced user get one with good customer support or even hire a professional to help you in the process of setting it up. First: you need a domain name for your store, and need to host it at a hosting company. If you already have the domain, you may skip this step. If you don't, you need to register the domain and then place it, host it, at a web server. You need to choose a hosting company which offers what you need. You will most probably need a database for your store and programming language support. Which language depends on the requirements to install the shopping cart of your choice. Some examples of programming languages are ASP, Php, Perl. Second: if you plan to sell products, you need a payment processor, a company to process the payments you receive online, in real time. You can use a third party solution like PayPal, where you do not need to open a merchant account. Or you may choose a payment
processor company to accept credit cards online, where you also open your merchant account. Examples of these are Authorize.Net, WorldPay and SECPay. All companies charge different fees for their services, it is important to go over their fee structure and find the right solution for you. Most shopping carts come with payment processing integration modules so you can seamlessly connect your cart to the payment processor of your choice. If your processor is not included, you should consider requesting the integration development, if possible, or opt for a different payment processor. Third: you need to install the shopping cart script in your domain, and configure it using the Administrator interface. This is a private, password protected area of your site that you use for all the store maintenance and admin tasks. You need to: - choose the layout and looks of your site. - establish your products categories or groups, so they are organized - load your products - set your payment processor information - configure shipping options - configure taxes This is only a short list including the more essential tasks. There may be more aspects involved in your particular implementation, depending on your particular needs and on the shopping cart you chose to install. If you think all this is rather confusing, you should consider getting professional help to get your store working. About the author:Veronica Bendersky is a Systems Engineer who specializes in web programming and online systems. She also offers web hosting at http://www.ayreshost.com/, where you can get help in setting up your online store.
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Ecommerce - Making Your Bank Account GrowEcommerce 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: http://www.isnare.com/
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Ecommerce Marketing PlanConcept of Service
The current work deals with marketing offer of e-commerce service. It highlights the essential steps of marketing of a brand-new firm offering services of website construction, design, programming, development, and promotion. The service should be provided exclusively online via the site of the company. Online business operations include ordering, agreement on requirements, elaboration of design, and providing constant customer support.
The service implementation process should include the following stages:
- Defining goals of the site. This may include either physical meeting or discussion of the product in question via Internet. - Developing the website structure. This stage is aimed at flashing out technical aspects of the site. It should include definition of necessary technology, type and specifications of site navigation.
- Website design and built. Developing layout and graphics of the site. This may include elaborating the company's genuine creative approach in developing the graphic looks of the order, or complying with the requirements presented by the customer as to general look of the project.
- Website programming and built. This stage depends on details of each specific project and definite requirements posed as to the quality and level of the site. Also, this process varies according to the kind of customer and destination of the site contemplated. All features of the site are subject to examination and test by both company's specialist and customer.
- Technical release of the site. Once technical aspects of the project finished, the customer should be provided with free consultation along with further site marketing and promotion services, techniques, and practical advice.
- Ongoing site maintenance. This is the stage when the job of creating the customer's site is finished. But the company guarantees keeping all its sites current in terms of graphics, technology, navigation and usability. After release of the site, the company continues working with the customer as to establishing a schedule for the website regular review and maintenance to meet clients' requests, accommodate users' feedbacks, incorporating new system updates and new technologies.
It is a fact that the idea of the internet-commerce of this type is not brand-new, and for a new company to enter the market and receive profit out of its business, it is necessary to invent some novel elements in the service offered. The innovative elements that this project contains compared to large variety of competitors functioning on IT e-commerce market are based on combination of cost leadership and differentiation generic strategies (according to M. Porter, [1]). Therefore, the project is launched in B2C format, though there can be differentiation of customers and hence differentiation of the level and variety of services offered to each individual customer, and the project is for-profit, small business case. This new business is intended to compete with both large business providers of site development services and small business representatives dealing with this issue.
Another unique feature of the project is wide variety of services included in one business offer. This includes: web-design, redesign of existing site, possibility of working with many programming languages, site management, allocation in search engines, animation, free hosting offer, email registration, web mail and POP3 access, ftp access, tools for web statistics, domain name registration, other services like full life website consulting, flash animation creation, elaboration of graphic and logo design, e-commerce and shopping carts, site management, administering and maintenance, banner ads, marketing, engine position enhancing and promotions, search engine optimization, software testing and even online training.
Industry Overview
The industry of e-commerce is one of the fastest and most dynamically developing industries worldwide. Today it is quite difficult to accurately define the impact of the Internet on commerce in exact figures, but according to the estimates by 2000 there were about 260 million Internet users worldwide and by mid 2003 their number has grown more than twice and reached 580 millions. By 2005, their number is estimated to reach more than 770 million.
These figures show that the Internet has become very important and significant business medium through which buyers and sellers not only conduct transactions that were earlier conducted live, but carry out
online-specific business buy-and-sell operations. Only three years ago, in the first three quarters of 2002, according to the figures of Department of Commerce [3], e-commerce transactions amounted to more than 20 billion dollars. It should be taken into account that those numbers are significantly lower than the amount of actual real transactions.
Today, e-commerce is booming. Market size of e-commerce has reached immense volumes. Moreover, this growth tends to accelerate. While in 2002 total volume of retail American e-commerce sales was fixed at $44 billion, one year later it increased to 56 billion. Then, in 2003, online sales made only 1.6 of total sales, providing the ground to suggest that there is very large growth potential. Online sales are predicted to rise to 2.9% by the year of 2007. Thus, Internet economy force became more integral part of the entire US economy than it has ever been. Research conducted by the Cisco Systems (available at [2]) shows that the Web is transforming the way people work and the revenue from Internet transactions annually grows by more than 50 percent. Jupiter Research [4] reports that American B2B Internet commerce rates increased noticeably over the past 5 years and amount from $336 billion in 2000 to $ 6.3 trillion in 2005. Jupiter mentions five industries that have more than half of all buying and selling operations online. These are: aerospace and defense, chemicals, electronics, motor vehicle and parts, and computer and communications equipment and software. Among these industries, computer and communications equipment and software is leading with estimated number of online sales in this 2005 year reaching to $1 trillion.
That is very important for the current study since the project in question is to be launched in computer and communications industry. Therefore, proceeding from the trends mentioned in the industry of electronic commerce, one can assume that the direction of one's business connected to online service and e-commerce, notwithstanding powerful competition, has all the chances to further develop and gain success since this market sector is subject to enhancement, development and transformation. Since the number of Internet users is growing and the number of companies willing to be represented on the Web is increasing along with the number of companies launching online business, there is very high and further increasing demand in providing programming, design, site development and marketing services. Therefore, a new firm in the industry theoretically has solid opportunities to enter the market, whatever saturated it may be, and successfully develop. On the basis of abovementioned, the outline of relevant business target market gets clearly seen.
Target Market
The target market of the project is very vast one. It varies from individuals with the minimum requirements as to functionality, appearance and program possibilities of the site, to large companies with more solid and expensive orders. Since there are very different kinds of customers with various interests and needs, each requiring different approach and professional level of performance, they should be segmented into distinct groups. By segmenting the customers, the company increases its chances on success.
The customers were divided according to the level of the desired product complexity. After such criterion, three levels can be distinguished: those requiring basic site development; intermediate level, and sophisticated one. Basic level implies comparatively low cost of services and is fine for individual customers, non-professional companies specializing, for example, in online selling of a small range of products. According to its name, this solution anticipates limited functionality, simple design, and quick implementation of the order.
Second group of customers comprises those with intermediate level orders. Such sites should include...
Full version of Ecommerce International Marketing Plan is available at Ecommerce Marketing PlanAbout the Author
Anastasia Kurdina is a person of manifold gifts. Almost every her writing is followed by lavish testimonials from satisfied customers. Anastasia specializes in marketing, management, sociology and history. Anastasia is not an essay writer in a common sense. She is a Poet, an Analyst, an Artist, a Critic, ... . Get to know her better now at Your Personal Writer.
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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 model has many great advantages over the non-ecommerce website in that it allows for the generation of revenue with little-or-no time spent in selling past the cost to have the website designed and maintained, and it does not require the visitor to call you during business hours thus helping secure the sale to an impulse buyer. If your website provides all the information that the buyer would want, you can save significant money in sales time spent in that the visitor can find all the information they need to decide to buy from you without taking up your time or that of one of your sales staff. But ecommerce sites have a serious drawback as well; very few of them can be properly indexed by search engine spiders and thus will fail to rank highly.
A non-ecommerce website may have the disadvantage on not being able to take the visitor's money the second they want to spend it, however if it can be found on the first page of the search engines while your beautifully designed ecommerce site sits on page eight, the advantage is theirs. The vast majority of visitors will never get to see your site, let alone buy from you, whereas a non-ecommerce site may lose sales because they don't sell online but at least they're able to deliver their message to an audience to begin with. So what can be done? The key is in the shopping cart you select.
SEO & Shopping Carts
The biggest problem with many SEO-friendly ecommerce solutions is that they are created after the initial product. Shopping cart systems such as Miva Merchant and OS Commerce are not designed with the primary goal of creating pages that will be well-received by the search engine spiders. Most shopping cart systems out there today are not in-and-of-themselves even spiderable and require 3rd party add-ons to facilitate even the lowest form of SEO-friendliness. The money you may have saved in choosing an inexpensive shopping cart may very well end up costing you your business in the long run, especially if you are using your shopping cart as the entire site, which we have seen may times in the past.
What Can Be Done?
There are essentially two solutions to this problem. The first is to create a front-end site separate from the shopping cart. What this will effectively do is create a number of pages that can be easily spidered (assuming that they're well designed). The drawback to this course of action is that your website will forever be limited to the size of the front-end site. Which brings us to the second option: choose a search engine friendly shopping cart system.
Finding an SEO-friendly shopping cart system is far easier said than done. There are many factors that have to be taken into account including the spiderability of the pages themselves, the customization capacity of the individual pages, the ease of adding products and changing the pages down the road, etc. While I've worked with many shopping cart and
ecommerce systems, to date there has been only one that has truly impressed me in that it is extremely simple to use, it allows for full customization of individual pages and the product pages get fully spidered to the point where they have PageRank assigned. A rarity in the shopping cart world.
Easy As Apple Pie
Mr. Lee Roberts, President of Rose Rock Design and creator of the Apple Pie Shopping Cart, was kind enough to take the time to speak with me regarding how he developed his system. Trying to get an understanding of how this system was born I inquired as to what differentiated their system from others. Without "giving away the farm", Lee pointed out that his system was unique in that the search engines were a consideration from the birth of this project. Rather than trying to jerry-rig a system that was already in place, he initiated the development of a system whose first task was to allow for easily spidered and customized pages. A significant advantage to be sure.
In further discussions he pointed out a few key factors that should be considered by all when choosing a shopping cart system. While more advance shopping cart systems that provide for SEO-friendly pages may seem more expensive, they save you the cost of developing a front-end site, maintaining the pricing on a static page if one goes that route, and of course - if all your site's pages are easily spidered and you can then have hundreds of additional relevant pages added to your site's overall strength and relevancy you have a serious advantage in the SEO "game". If a shopping cart system costs you an extra $100 per month to maintain but it's use provides you with an additional $5000 in sales that month did it really "cost" you $100?
What Lee has effectively done is to provide a shopping cart system that enables search engines to fully read and index every page. Additionally (and perhaps because of his history as an accessibility expert) the system is extremely easy to work with as a user and as an SEO. And of course that's our primary concern at Beanstalk.
Conclusion
It is not to say that the Apple Pie Shopping Cart is end-all-be-all of SEO for an ecommerce site, if it was Lee wouldn't be in the process of building a new version that will include many new features for Internet marketing and tracking, and we would be out of work. That said, if you've got an e-commerce site or are looking to have one built, one must consider what type of marketing strategy will be taken with the site and if SEO is one of those, insure to find a system that provides the same advantages as this one.
It may cost a bit more up front but doing it right the first time is far less costly than building a site that can't be marketed properly and to it's maximum potential.
About the Author
Dave Davies is the CEO of Beanstalk Search Engine Positioning and provides guaranteed SEO services to his clients. Visit Beanstalk’s blog to keep updated on the latest SEO news.
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Ecommerce Solution For The Big And Small BusinessDo you have a business? Were you told you needed an ecommerce solution to help your business? Do you need to know how and where to get an ecommerce solution? Perhaps you are not even sure what an ecommerce solution is. For those of you who have asked these questions, an answer has been found. First off, you need to know what an ecommerce solution is. An ecommerce solution can be defined in many ways. An ecommerce solution is a way to define electronic shopping carts. An ecommerce solution is used for businesses that sell things on the web. An ecommerce solution makes it possible for any sale or transaction to be made. They enable the use of credit cards and other forms of payment to be used right on your website. It is used for large companies like Ebay or Amazon. But now an ecommerce solution is for small companies and businesses as well. There are other aspects and definitions of this subject. An ecommerce solution can also be defined as software that allows you to do business on the web. It is also software that designs websites that are used just for selling products or services on the web. An ecommerce solution can also be defined as a company that hosts websites. Either way you look at it, an ecommerce solution is for anyone doing business on the web. An ecommerce solution does many things, as you can now tell. Finding a good ecommerce solution can be a tedious task. The best thing to do is to go online and use a search engine. Type in ecommerce solution and look at the top
websites listed that offer this. There are many ecommerce solution stores that offer free trials. Many often guarantee ease of set up, customizable solutions, and guaranteed results with powerful marketing tools and affiliate programs. All of this is included in a set price. When looking for an ecommerce solution, shop around and see which one offers you the best deal. Most offer a set yearly fee. This can be anywhere from $300 to $800 a year. There are some ecommerce solution stores that offer a month to month contract, however. These are usually $55 to $100 a month. Many offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you are not happy with the results of the ecommerce solution and it's software. With all of this in mind, you are that much closer to finding a great ecommerce solution. There are many options out there, so do your research. For anyone who wants to do business on the web, it is an absolute necessity. Soon you will be on your way to a profitable and successful web based business!
About the Author: Jay Moncliff is the founder of http://www.comercio-electronico.info/ a blog focusing on the Ecommerce,resources and articles. This site provides detailed information on Ecommerce. For more info on Ecommerce visit: http:comercio-electronico.info
Source: http://www.isnare.com/
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eCommerce SolutionsCopyright 2005 Paul SanfordAll of the long, grueling nights and an unknown number of working weekends spent converting your dream into reality finally paid off—in a big way! Affiliates are signing up every single day and the clicks have really turned into cash. Your success is not limited to a lonely website but several and all of them are helping you move very diverse product lines. The effort has really paid off and you are milking this Internet cash cow for all its worth but there is one little problem, isn’t there? You have reached a point where growing your business even more is almost impossible because instead of developing or acquiring new products like you know you should, you are spending all of your time maintaining and servicing the sites you already have. By the time you get finished signing up and communicating with the affiliates, processing the orders and payment information, and handling the logistics of delivery—the day is gone and you are out of time!Now don’t get me wrong, this is a terrific problem to have but the fact remains that if you are not growing your business then that business is dying! Besides, none of us started these websites just to be bogged down in the trenches, did we? It was the creativity and that rush from seeing the business grow from a single seed of an idea into the
multi-domain, multi-product beauty it is now, right? There is a way to free yourself from the day-to-day operations of your e-business—automation! That is absolutely correct because there are programs out there that can automate your multiple domains, divergent product lines, and multiple affiliate programs! What you desperately need is an Autoresponder Management solution that will automatically handle your affiliate sign-up and the terribly time-consuming task of payment processing and delivery! Such a system would allow you to streamline all of your varied websites and help you to generate the detailed reports you need to better analyze your results in a cost-effective and efficient manner! In fact, virtually all of the tasks that have prevented you from developing new products and acquiring others can in fact be fully automated in such a way as to leave control where it should be—in your hands—while completely freeing you to expand your initial vision even further! If a program can effectively manage all of the routines currently eating so much of your time in a more efficient manner, why even consider continuing to manage all of these tasks yourself? Isn’t working smarter and not harder what got you here in the first place?
About the Author
http://gettingrichfast.com/ecomm.htmlhttp://gettingrichfast.com/clickspy/
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Ecommerce Solutions ComparedThere are dozens, perhaps hundreds of businesses and organizations eager to assist and sell product online. Basically, they fall into four categories: credit card transactions, digital cash transactions, electronic fund transfers and telephone billing systems The right choice for you depends upon your specific business requirements. 1. Merchant Internet Accounts. Pros: Consumers are familiar with credit cards with credit card transactions, consumers don’t have to download and install special plug-in. Credit card sales lends itself to impulse buying. Cons: Consumers still have concerns regarding providing financial information online. This method does not lend itself well to the purchase of down loadable soft goods, such as software, art, graphics, etc 2. Electronic Cash Transactions Electronic money is an arrangement whereby the customer pays for the merchandise using, well, electronic money. Examples of this are the well known DigiCash, Cyberbucks, CyberCash, etc. Pros No credit card transactions are required. No concerns re charge backs. Lends itself well to micro payments. Cons Many people are unfamiliar with the concept and shy away from unknown entities. Eliminates the possibility of impulse buying, unless both customer and merchant are already in same scheme. May not be available
globally. 3. Electronic Fund Transfers Funds are transferred electronically from the customer’s bank account to yours. The best known method is the issuing of electronic checks Pros No credit card worries. Available to persons who don’t have credit cards Cons A very new technology that some perceive as being less secure than other forms of ecommerce. Many customers aren’t set up to issue electronic cheques; time required to make the arrangements eliminates impulse buying. May not be available to international consumers. 4. Telephone Billing Systems A very new approach, telephone transactions allow the customer to purchase an item or service, and the amount is billed to his or her telephone bill. Pros Eliminates worries about credit cards (for both consumer and merchant) Safeguards soft merchandise â€" no possibility of theft or pirating. Cons Customer is required to download and install a plug-in. currently only available for soft merchandise but can do some limited transactions for hard goods. Currently available for sales using telephone modems and will not work for transactions over cable modems and ISDN lines. About the author:For more information on credit card processing,please visit http://www.paynetsystems.com/
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Ecommerce solutions for small business ownersYou are running a small business. Or You may have a web site but has not been generating a good income. Or You may have a web site, which is generating a good income, but you want to increase your income. Or You do not have a web site, but thinking of launching one.
If you fit in to any of above categories then this article is for you. The purpose of this article is to educate small business owners of how to launch and operate a successful e-business. Many technical jargons that you don't want to know but YOU MUST KNOW are explained in layman's words in this article.
Remember, web sites are not to stand still and collect E-dust. They should generate good income.
If you believe that having an attractive and a colourful web site is e-commerce or ebusiness, then I am afraid you are wrong. A good e-business solution should include the following.
1. Identify who are your visitors.
2. Identify and present clearly the benefits those visitors of your web site are going to get.
3. Visitors should achieve the purpose of visiting your web site fast (easy navigation). It can vary from find some information to purchasing goods or services. The rule of thumb is that a visitor should fulfil the purpose of visiting your site in maximum three clicks.
4. Information should be clean and easy to read.
5. Web site should be fast and should not take long time to load pages.
6. Web site should get a good Search Engine ranking. Also should get lot of visitors who are interested on your products or services (targeted traffic).
Now you have two options.
Option 1: Develop an e-business solution by yourself.
Option 2: Get a third-party to develop an e-commerce solution for you.
Irrespective of which option you are going to select, you should know few important steps/terms used in the process.
1. E-commerce web site designing:
This is the development part of your web site. You should concentrate on the content of your web site, user friendliness, speed and the structure of your web site. Also it is important to use keywords related to your business properly in order to get high rankings on Search Engines.
Don't worry about this now. I will show you how easy this is. Keep on reading.
2. Domain name registration:
Domain name is the name of your web site Ex: http://www.preventiveguru.com/
Domain name is unique for you and nobody is able to use your domain name when it is registered for you (for the period that you purchased). This is done through a web hosting company.
3. E-commerce web hosting:
This is where you store your web pages, so everybody can access your web site. This is done through a web hosting company.
4. Ecommerce Shopping Cart:
Similar to actual shopping carts at Supermarkets, you can use a virtual shopping cart in your web site. So Customers can purchase items online, put them in the cart and pay for the whole lot. Ebusiness software is used to develop digital shopping carts.
5. Credit card processing:
You need to talk to your bank and get a
merchant account to process credit cards online. Alternatively, there are companies who do credit card processing for your web site. They charge a small processing fee for each transaction.
5. Shipping:
If you are going to sell hard goods, then shipping is one of the main tasks. Shipping can be done by yourself or there are fulfilment companies who do shipping for a nominal charge. You should sign an agreement with them and configure your web site to notify them about shipping details automatically.
OK, lets consider your options of developing profitable e-business solutions.
Option 1: Do it yourself.
I hear your questions. But it is not a very difficult task. Because there are good tools to automate most of above tasks. Thanks to these tools, business owners don't have to depend on others to run a successful e-business.
Your next step
1. Download FREE e-books for an A to Z explanation on how to do this from below web page.
http://www.preventiveguru.com/ecommerce-website-designers.html
2. Study details about ecommerce automation tools described in the same web page.
Done? Fantastic. You are ready to start your journey.
Option 2: Get a third-party to develop an e-commerce solution for you.
If you decided to go for a third party then you should know what to ask from them and what to look for. Most of ecommerce website developers concentrate on the look and feel of web sites. That along will never make you money.
Below are few important tips that you should discuss with your vendor.
Keywords: What are the main words related to your business and how are they going to use them efficiently?
Navigation: Structure of the web site and how easy to navigate and find information.
Search Engine Optimisation: How are they going to optimise your web site so that it will get good rankings?
Web hosting space: How much of space are they going to allocate for your web site.
Web statistics: Will they provide online statistics about visitors of your web site. Statistics are very important to analyse the performances of each page in your web site. Below statistics are vital.
How many unique visitors per day. How many visits (page wise). Listing of entry pages. Listing of exit pages. Source of the visitor (search engine, web directory etc). What are the keywords that are been used to find your web site?
OK, What's next?
Download FREE e-books from
http://www.preventiveguru.com/ecommerce-website-designers.html
Read them carefully and understand the process in detail.
Then go and see your vendor. About the Author
The author is the Webmaster of http://www.preventiveguru.com/ who has over 12 years of experience in computer maintenance and eBusiness solutions. www.preventiveguru.com contains Free DIY information on Computer troubleshooting, maintenance and ebusiness solutions. A self-help guide for non technical PC users.
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ECOMMERCE SOLUTIONS…THE CALL OF THE TIMEThere really is no doubting the impact of Information Technology on our lives. And a significant example of this is the application of ecommerce in business. Conducting business transactions has been changed to a great extent. Just what are ecommerce or e-commerce solutions? Ecommerce or e-commerce is the purchasing or selling of goods or services as well as the transfer of funds in any way by means of electronic communications in inter-company and intra-company business dealings. Moreover, ecommerce solution is also a key to conduct business by means of technology through the internet. There are actually four types of ecommerce existing today and these are the following: business to consumer ecommerce, business to business ecommerce, consumer to business ecommerce and the consumer to consumer ecommerce.The business to consumer ecommerce involves businesses selling products and services to various individual customers. This kind of ecommerce is also known as online trading and auctions. On the other hand, the business to business ecommerce involves the transactions commencing between companies in which they sell to other businesses. This type of ecommerce also includes a transfer of well thought-out messages with other business partners over private networks or internet in order to create and transform business processes. Moreover, the business to business ecommerce is deemed toward the improvement as well as the simplification of the various business processes inside a company. This type of ecommerce is also geared toward the maximization of the efficiency when it comes to the many
transactions that a company engages into. Likewise, the business to business ecommerce is designed to achieve a quicker and flawless transaction that is controlled. Aside from that, business to business ecommerce is also effective in maintaining limited inventory as well as efficient enough to perform product refill and many more.The consumer to business ecommerce is actually considered an unusual internet trend. Examples for this type of ecommerce are those individuals who for example are looking for hotels but have limited budget. What they do is that they place an ad on the internet saying that they are looking for a hotel at a rate that are just within their budget and then they also place there their contact numbers or email addresses if ever some hotels are interested. This example simply shows the marvelous capability of the internet to bring people together and create a cyber market wherein various people can transact their business.On the other hand, the consumer to consumer ecommerce is considered to be the internet’s equivalent of an advertising market. This is where individual web users are allowed to put their ad for other consumers to react to. The advantage of this type of ecommerce is that people are able to save on advertising and then their ads are much faster and are easily reached by an unlimited number of customers like themselves. For comments and suggestions about the article kindly visit http://www.webplacements.com
About the Author
Jinky C. Mesias is a lover of simple things and of nature. She spends most of her time reading and writing poetry.
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Ecommerce Store Owners : Want Visitors? Here’s How. . .Have you recently opened an online store, and waiting for those customers to drop by and start shopping?In cyberworld - unlike the real world - you just can’t pick a good location and rely on passing trade. You’ve got to work hard to get visitors to your virtual store.Let’s take a look at how we can drum up a small stampede...Are You Optimised?To stand any chance of being ranked well in the free search engines, your site must be optimised for the keyword phrases you are targeting. Research and develop a list of keywords related to your product line, using the free downloadable software at http://www.goodkeywords.com/ . From this list, you can find two or three well targeted phrases, with decent visitor traffic, and make sure your website is optimised for them. Include the phrases in the title, and meta tags, in the body text (several times) and “alt” mage tags.Make sure your product listings are optimised too. The term “horse saddle” is searched for over 1900 times a month on one search engine alone, so make sure your product titles and descriptions include the relevant search term, rather than just the plain old product number, such as “Acme A35284”.Are You Link Building?Search engines are placing more and more importance on incoming links to your website – in a way, ty consider them to be votes for your site.First, make sure you submit your site to the large list of directories that are crawled and indexed by popular search engine spiders. You can get the SEO friendly directory list free at http://www.info.vibesilencer.com/ Next, pursue an ongoing campaign of getting links from other websites. Try to make sure the sites are on a related theme. You can find sites that are linking to your competitors by typing “link:http://www.yourcompetitorswebsite.com/ “ into Google, and then approach them to request a link to your website.One useful piece of software for researching and keeping
track of link requests is available at http://www.seoelite.com/ . (If nothing else, the free search engine optimisation course is one of the best free courses I have ever come across) Are You Using Pay Per Click Advertising?There’s nothing like Pay Per click (PPC) for a quick shot in the arm! You can often have traffic within an hour of setting up a campaign with Google Adwords (http://www.google.com/ads). Overture is Google’s main Ppc competitor (http://www.overture.com/) and can take a few days to get up an running with, but they are now part of Yahoo! – and therefore mustn’t be overlooked. Ppc search engines can provide you with extremely well targeted traffic that you can turn on and off like a tap. However, you must get your strategy right or you will haemorrhage cash ; develop a large list of targeted keywords, write a catchy text advert and don’t get drawn into bidding wars.Are You Overlooking Your Existing Customers?Once your online store starts getting customers, make sure you keep them. Develop a newsletter to keep in contact with them – and regularly send them details of special offers and new products. Repeat business is often overlooked – but it is a vital part of some of the webs most successful ecommerce operations.And if you already have a “bricks and mortar” store, don’t forget to publicise your new online shop – include it in all your stationery and marketing materials.The marketing and promotion of an online store is an ongoing project. The most successful store owners know how important it is to set aside time each week to attend to marketing - whether it’s link building, writing a newsletter or keeping abreast of the latest online marketing developments – success comes to those who consistently put the work in.© 2005 Robin Porter.
About the Author
Robin Porter has been CEO of London based web designer Arpey Internet (http://www.arpey.co.uk/) for over six years.
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Ecommerce that Makes Sense
We weigh the merits of ready-made and custom solutions to add ecommerce to your site.In our last Tips we cautioned that just having a shopping cart on your website isn't enough to make ecommerce work. This month we'll weigh the merits of ready-made and custom solutions to set up ecommerce on your site.
IT ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE ANYMORE
There was a time when selling products online required months of conjuring by highly-paid programmers. Those days are gone. Large companies with complex requirements still need custom programming (to tap a mainframe for inventory information, for example). But for the vast majority of small businesses there's a ready-made solution.
Be wary of web programmers who propose to spend a large number of hours building a shopping cart. Either they've done this before and are trying to charge you full price for something they already developed, or worse, they've been living under a rock for the past five years and have never done an ecommerce site.
ADDING ECOMMERCE TO AN EXISTING SITE
If you already have a website, the first thing you should do is check the ecommerce solutions your web host offers. You may already have a solution available, or you may be able to pay a small upgrade fee to access one.
If you have a website with a list of your products online, you may try a shopping-cart-only service, such as 1ShoppingCart (www.1shoppingcart.com). This type of service lets you add "buy now" buttons to your existing web catalog. When a buyer clicks the button, she's taken from your website to a checkout area on the ecommerce provider's site.
This can be a quick and easy way to set up a shopping cart. A mid-range account with 1ShoppingCart costs $40 per month. The downside is that, although you can add your own logo, the checkout area doesn't look exactly like your site. This may discourage some buyers.
CREATING A NEW SITE WITH ECOMMERCE
There are a variety of web-based services which provide a complete shopping cart and product catalog system. Yahoo Store (store.yahoo.com) is a good example. For $50 per month and 0.5% of each transaction (that's in addition to whatever you pay your credit-card processing company) you get a fairly complete package.
You choose from a variety of templates and then set up your store. It takes about 1/2 hour if you have copy and digital product photos. One benefit of a Yahoo storefront is inclusion
in their ecommerce directory. It's like opening a store in a mall that already has good traffic. The downside? Although it is possible to customize a Yahoo store, it may end up looking a bit "cookie-cutter" and unprofessional.
CUSTOMIZING A READY-MADE SOLUTION
For the most professional look and feel you'll want to hire a web development firm to customize a pre-built ecommerce system. Some web firms work with Miva Merchant (www.miva.com). Another example is Resolve Digital's REDiSHOP module. Costs are higher than a Yahoo store: a license is typically $500 - $1,000 and web development can range from around $2,000 to $10,000.
The advantage of this approach is that the firm uses pre-built functionality so you don't pay to reinvent the wheel. Your money will be spent on those aspects of the site which are unique to you-- professional graphics, layout, and branding-- all of which can increase consumer confidence in your site.
SETTING UP A MERCHANT ACCOUNT
A merchant account enables your website to accept credit card orders in real time. Customers enter credit card information and funds are deposited in your account automatically. Firms such as Charge.com provide this service fairly inexpensively.
Your credit must be approved and you have to pay setup, monthly, per-transaction-fixed, and per-transaction-percentage fees. These are generally around $200, $25, $.20, and 2.5% respectively. If you look around you may find a provider running a special and waiving the setup fee.
Most ecommerce systems offer a preferred merchant account vendor. If the prices are within the range noted above you might as well go with that to minimize setup. You can also get a merchant account through your bank, but it'll be more expensive.
CONCLUSION
If you'd like to test the waters of ecommerce inexpensively, a service like Yahoo may be your best option. If you want to present a more professional face to the public, hire a firm to develop your site by customizing a pre-built ecommerce product. And remember, avoid anyone who wants to build you a shopping cart system from scratch.
About the Author
Barry Harrison and Jim Grady are the co-authors of REDiTIPS. REDiTIPS is a free monthly newsletter that offers simple techniques to market your Web site and grow your business. We provide practical, low-cost ideas to help you promote your small business and reach new potential customers.
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Ecommerce Turnkey SitesTurnkey host sites normally offer the complete package, which normally includes hosting as well as products. Turnkey means an already stocked business, depending on the store it might be stocked with from 10 products to thousands. These hosts usually charge a setup fee to create your store. A domain name may or may not be included in the price and there is usually a monthly fee for maintaining your store. Some stores provide you with products at a base price and allow you to add your own markup. Others charge a fee for each product sold while others simply pay you a commission off each item sold. You choose what best suits you, but you will make the largest profit from those that you can markup yourself. Do not be lured buy quick promises of up to 50% commission. Often times months down the line you are still waiting on your first cheque as you have not sold anything. Sometime these products are very expensive or of such a quality that your customers will not buy. Another thing some hosts fail to tell is that you have to promote the store yourself. So
get ready, in addition to paying a monthly fee, you will have to start driving traffic to your website. This can prove costly but there are ways around it, such as through site optimization and site submissions. One of the greatest things about these turnkey hosting packages however is that you do not need to hold inventory. All your products are pre-stocked and for some hosts, you do not even need to worry about accepting payment. Everything is taken care of, these services are usually all included in the monthly fee. This does seem to make your transition into the world of ecommerce a little easier but does not guarantee you the best monetary remuneration. So the choice of E-Commerce Turnkey host is yours, only you and your business idea will determine the best host for you. About the author:This newsletter is written and copyrighted by K Valentine, owner of Web Hosts Value a web hosting site and Jamaican Stores Jamaican Products. mailto:valencia@valenciastores.com
© 2006 - All Rights Reserved.
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eCommerce Web Design SolutionseCommerce web design is a lot more than just putting your company brochure on the net or adding an internet shopping cart to your existing product catalog. There are some fundamental differences between doing business online and doing business the traditional way. Before you design your business web site, you must know what specific goals you desire to achieve with your business web site, determine how best to meet your goals based on your budget, and then determine what software and services you will use to design your e-commerce web site.Web Site Business ObjectivesA small business web site can do many things. This can include:- Generate Leads. Pre-sell your business services and products to generate telephone, e-mail, or online form leads from customers.- Generate Sales Quotes. Solicit or generate automated quotes that in turn generates a customer sale or lead.- Generate Advertising Revenue. Display online content and free services with affiliate or ad network advertisements that generates advertising revenue from your merchant partners.- Provide A StoreFront. Host online catalog that fully automates the customer purchase and communications process.- Generate Customer Traffic. Generate customer traffic from search engines and business directories to pre-sell your product or service. Traffic is then re-directed to you main web site or product web pages.Your e-Commerce web site design is greatly influenced by your specific web site objectives for your small business.eCommerce Web Site Design FundamentalsA web site is a lot more or even a lot less than a traditional store. There are more considerations with ecommerce web site design versus a traditional store. Web design considerations include:Customer Friendly: Present a professional image, offer customer convenience, have good sales copy, and just make it easy for the customer to make the desired response (click, lead, sale).Search Engine Friendly. For most online businesses, most customer traffic comes from search engines like Google, Yahoo!, or MSN. If part of your e-Commerce web site design strategy is to generate search engine traffic, you will need search engine optimization expertise to succeed. Buy it or grow it.Web Site Automation Tools. There are thousands of web site tools such as shopping carts, content management systems, e-mail auto-responders, payment processors, search engine optimization tools, online bulletin boards, traffic analyzers, and advertising management tools. Some of these tools are cheap and some are expensive. If you do not have the expertise to evaluate these products, it is probably best that you do not make any major investments in expensive web site tools. Wait until you become knowledgeable enough to evaluate web tools and add-ons for your business web site and that you have a
specific need.Costs. Costs, of course, are a key consideration for any e-Commerce web site design solution. You can usually purchase web site tools and services up-front or by subscription. Subscriptions can help you with your cash flow up-front. Usually you do not need to make any long-term commitments with subscription software or services. Subscriptions are good because as you become more knowledgeable of specific web site solutions you can add and drop web tools and services at will. Buying software up-front is good if you know that you will definitely use the software for a long time (1 to 3 years).Web Site Design OptionseCommerce web site design options can range from doing it yourself with web design software such as Microsoft FrontPage or outsourcing the entire web site development to a web design company. For a business, a free site with a free web site builder is not the answer. A free solution will not generate the desire response from the customer, is not search engine friendly, and is limited in growth for web site add-ons. A free affiliate site can be OK for making a sale, but have another method to generate traffic to your affiliate site as search engines will rarely give high rankings to cloned affiliate sites. Here are some e-Commerce web site design options:Do-It-Yourself. Buy web design software and do it yourself. Good option if: technically inclined, marketing skills, part-time web publisher, limited budget. Do-It-Yourself Using Templates. Buy web site templates, web design software, and do it yourself. Good option if: technically inclined, marketing skills, supplement with low cost web design services. Do-It-Yourself Using Web Site Builder Solution. Buy business web solution service. Good option if: not technically inclined, have marketing skills, and willing to make some investment. Do not waste your time with a site builder that just clones a snazzy web site. You will not get a web site that generates traffic or sales. eCommerce Web Site Design Company or Consultant. Outsource your web design work. Good option if: not technically inclined, limited marketing skills, medium-to-large budget As with any business there are risks. In evaluating an ecommerce web design solution it is best to know your objectives, have enough business knowledge to evaluate your web service suppliers as well as your business web tools, and maintain a positive cash flow.
About the Author
Randy McClure is a web site publisher of http://www.EasyAccessClub.com. EasyAccess Club is an eCommerce resource for discount shoppers, small businesses, and churches. We feature discount online store reviews, hundreds of discount stores, e-commerce news, and resources for doing business online. Visit our other sites: Small Business Online - http://biz.easyaccessclub.com and Church Online - http://www.access-jesus.com.
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