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Will You Add? - Preparing For E-Commerce Success: How To Ensure Your E-Commerce Website Will Work
Affiliate marketing is on of the largest growing sectors of home based businesses today. Promising a proven method of generating income without having to create and produce an actual product, it is no wonder that you see more and more affiliate sites online everyday. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that the vast majority of the sites do not earn their creators enough money to justify the time or money expended to maintain them. You see it all the time. Sites come and sites go in the blink of an eye. It is not the concept of affiliate marketing that is bad but the application of the concept that is flawed. There are two main reasons that this sites fail.*Online business owners do not stick with their program.Way too often if people do not see results in a few weeks, they get discouraged and give up. It is partially the fault of the affiliates themselves. You see all kinds of ads that promise huge financial gains in days or even hours after signing up. This is an unrealistic claim. Nothing in life that has any value is free or easy. You have to put something in to get something back. Whether that something is time or money or both, you have to commit yourself and your resources to making it work. The longer your site is up and the more quality content you continually add to your site the higher search engines will rank your site. The higher your site
Off-line processing is dependent on your involvement, which can prove time consuming but it does provide you with the opportunity to vet customers’ orders before you accept their payments.
4. How Will You Attract Customers To Your Website?
If you run a conventional retail outlet, you will be familiar with the adage that the three most important factors in retailing are "location, location, location". Retailers know that a good location, with a steady stream of passing traffic, guarantees a high level of footfall.
Passing traffic is equally important for an e-commerce website. The most beautifully-designed, functional site will not generate revenue from online sales unless it receives visitors. An effective, well-planned approach to driving traffic to your website is a vital component of a successful e-commerce site.
Your immediate thoughts about generating visitors may involve Internet-based marketing. A prominent listing in Google, Yahoo and other leading search engines will invariably produce visits, so a well-optimised website may well be important. Similarly, a marketing campaign based on Google AdWords™ can also direct prospective cus
One of the greatest things about starting a business on the internet is the low startup cost. Today, with all of the freely available places that you can publish yourself and your message, there’s just no excuse to get a little extra income going. This article looks at the power of using blogging and adsense to create a solid income stream from the internet.There are many different “systems” that people use to make money on the internet, but many of them do require at least a little bit of start up capital, often less than $100, and some sort of product to sell, even if it is not your own. You can sell products that you didn’t create, and don’t keep in stock with a technique called affiliate marketing. It can be effective, but with adsense it becomes even simpler.First of all, let’s define blogging. The term blog comes from weblog, which is basically like an online diary. Blogs take on many shapes and forms, and are available on virtually any topic imaginable. To define blogging, we simply say that blogging is the act of publishing information, content, on your blog. It really is simple.To create a blog, you can head over to either http://www.Blogger.com or http://www.Wordpress.com and create an account for yourself. Once your account i
Certain key factors must be considered before your website is built. Failing to consider these issues first invariably results in failure. Use the following 7 points to check whether your business is ready to benefit from e-commerce.
1. How Suitable Are My Products For An E-Commerce Website?
Not everything is suited to online selling and so it is vital that you understand whether consumers are likely to buy your products directly from a website. Suitable products tend to share common features:
- Homogenous – branded products are identical, irrespective of where they are purchased, and these are often good candidates for an e-commerce website. A consumer is more likely to purchase an item from your website if they understand exactly what they are buying. Books are a good example: a novel bought from one website is identical to the same novel bought from any other and so, in the consumer’s mind, there is no uncertainty about what they are purchasing.
Conversely, personalised or unique items (or products that need to be tried on or tested) are not so well suited to online selling. Shoes and spectacles, for instance, are difficult to sell from an e-commerce website because the consumer is more uncertain about whether the item is exactly right for them.
- Shippable – the fulfilment of online orders is often the area of e-commerce that causes website owners most difficulty. Small, light-weight items are easily shipped and do not involve a high delivery cost that may deter online sales. To this end, many website owners will incorporate the actual delivery cost within the price of their products so that they are able to offer "free delivery", which can help to stimulate online orders.
Bulky, heavy items can pose website owners some problems when it comes to delivery. If a product is fairly low-value item, will a ?10 or ?20 additional delivery charge be acceptable to the consumer?
- Inexpensive – consumers’ propensity to purchase online is strongly related to the perceived risk of making that purchase. A normally cautious consumer might adopt a more care-free "why not?" attitude when purchasing a book for ?6.99. The same person would be far more reticent when spending several thousand pounds on an electrical product.
Although high-price products do sell on the Internet, you have a natural advantage if you sell lower value items.
Any Internet enthusiast will tell you that you can sell to customers anywhere in the world as soon as you have an e-commerce website.
If you run a conventional business that supplies to customers in a specific geographic area, the prospect of being able to sell across the world can be very enticing.
However, fulfilling an overseas order can be quite onerous: should you charge VAT to customers based outside the EU? Do you have to pay excise duties if you send an order to America? How much will it cost to deliver an order to New Zealand?
With this in mind, many business owners choose to restrict their website to accepting orders from the UK only, particularly while their e-commerce site is in its early stages. The downside of selling to a more confined market can sometimes be a sensible price to pay.
3. Payment Processing - Real-time or Offline?
Many websites complete online transactions at the exact time of purchase, while the customer is still viewing the website. This is real-time processing and it uses a Payment Service Provider (PSP) – an online service that provides:
- A secure environment in which the customer can safely enter credit / debit card details;
- An automated connection to the banking system, so that the card transaction can be verified and checked;
Alternatively, off-line processing means that your website will simply collect the customer’s card details and store them securely on the server. The transaction is processed manually at a later date, usually by the website owner using a PDQ machine (credit card swipe machine).
Real-time processing requires no intervention on your behalf. As the website owner, you will be notified when a transaction is processed (although you will not see the customer’s card details) and you will then fulfil the order accordingly. Because this is an automated solution, it is hassle-free although it can be more costly, as your bank and the PSP will both take a percentage of the value of each transaction.
Off-line processing is dependent on your involvement, which can prove time consuming but it does provide you with the opportunity to vet customers’ orders before you accept their payments.
4. How Will You Attract Customers To Your Website?
If you run a conventional retail outlet, you will be familiar with the adage that the three most important factors in retailing are "location, location, location". Retailers know that a good location, with a steady stream of passing traffic, guarantees a high level of footfall.
Passing traffic is equally important for an e-commerce website. The most beautifully-designed, functional site will not generate revenue from online sales unless it receives visitors. An effective, well-planned approach to driving traffic to your website is a vital component of a successful e-commerce site.
Your immediate thoughts about generating visitors may involve Internet-based marketing. A prominent listing in Google, Yahoo and other leading search engines will invariably produce visits, so a well-optimised website may well be important. Similarly, a marketing campaign based on Google AdWords™ can also direct prospective cust
Performance and behaviour in many organisations are not managed well. The common missing ingredient in managing performance and behaviour is the absence of enforced standards.We are confronted almost daily with stories of IT project overruns and outright failures, public service procedural errors with dire consequences to individuals or quality and service errors resulting in unhappy customers. We are also confronted with examples of poor behaviour from sports people struggling with fame to senior executives defrauding their staff or their shareholders.The consequence to an organisation of poor performance of employees, at any level, is low productivity, high rework rates, higher risk and consequently, higher costs to achieve the outcomes required from any given role.The consequence of poorly behaving employees is increased risk with significant negative potential for an organisation's brand and its health safety, security and environment performance.Most of the poor performance and poor behaviour occurs simply because it is tolerated.From my observations, the tolerance comes about for the core reason that there are no enforced standards.In the absence of formal enforced standards, people apply their own standards using their best efforts to complete a role. The standards used are formed from previous experience i
Conversely, personalised or unique items (or products that need to be tried on or tested) are not so well suited to online selling. Shoes and spectacles, for instance, are difficult to sell from an e-commerce website because the consumer is more uncertain about whether the item is exactly right for them.
Bulky, heavy items can pose website owners some problems when it comes to delivery. If a product is fairly low-value item, will a ?10 or ?20 additional delivery charge be acceptable to the consumer?
Although high-price products do sell on the Internet, you have a natural advantage if you sell lower value items.
Any Internet enthusiast will tell you that you can sell to customers anywhere in the world as soon as you have an e-commerce website.
If you run a conventional business that supplies to customers in a specific geographic area, the prospect of being able to sell across the world can be very enticing.
However, fulfilling an overseas order can be quite onerous: should you charge VAT to customers based outside the EU? Do you have to pay excise duties if you send an order to America? How much will it cost to deliver an order to New Zealand?
With this in mind, many business owners choose to restrict their website to accepting orders from the UK only, particularly while their e-commerce site is in its early stages. The downside of selling to a more confined market can sometimes be a sensible price to pay.
3. Payment Processing - Real-time or Offline?
Many websites complete online transactions at the exact time of purchase, while the customer is still viewing the website. This is real-time processing and it uses a Payment Service Provider (PSP) – an online service that provides:
- A secure environment in which the customer can safely enter credit / debit card details;
- An automated connection to the banking system, so that the card transaction can be verified and checked;
Alternatively, off-line processing means that your website will simply collect the customer’s card details and store them securely on the server. The transaction is processed manually at a later date, usually by the website owner using a PDQ machine (credit card swipe machine).
Real-time processing requires no intervention on your behalf. As the website owner, you will be notified when a transaction is processed (although you will not see the customer’s card details) and you will then fulfil the order accordingly. Because this is an automated solution, it is hassle-free although it can be more costly, as your bank and the PSP will both take a percentage of the value of each transaction.
Off-line processing is dependent on your involvement, which can prove time consuming but it does provide you with the opportunity to vet customers’ orders before you accept their payments.
4. How Will You Attract Customers To Your Website?
If you run a conventional retail outlet, you will be familiar with the adage that the three most important factors in retailing are "location, location, location". Retailers know that a good location, with a steady stream of passing traffic, guarantees a high level of footfall.
Passing traffic is equally important for an e-commerce website. The most beautifully-designed, functional site will not generate revenue from online sales unless it receives visitors. An effective, well-planned approach to driving traffic to your website is a vital component of a successful e-commerce site.
Your immediate thoughts about generating visitors may involve Internet-based marketing. A prominent listing in Google, Yahoo and other leading search engines will invariably produce visits, so a well-optimised website may well be important. Similarly, a marketing campaign based on Google AdWords™ can also direct prospective cus
Recently I had been conversing with a gentleman online about a business endeavor that he thought was worthy after he read one of my articles on a new personal technology device concept I had dreamed up. As we shot back nearly 50 pages worth of text in emails and forum discussions, it never occurred to me that we might be different races. Not that it makes any difference anyway, however the subject came up and I though I should ask. Turns out he is a Black American and I am white. My question was simply; BTW are you black? In his reply he said, he is a man who happens to be black (smile). And I did, because it doesn’t matter.So I said to him in my email reply; “Well stated Sir.” And since he is a Black American Man, well then I thought we ought to use this to his advantage, because god knows there is still a bit of adversity that comes with a different color of skin, even if not all in our country are willing to admit that. He is considering on forming a new business, which will need lots of funding. You see I take an online newsletter, which comes from The Black Chamber of Commerce, which often lists all the programs available from the government to help small business. Some but not all look as if they could be a very good thing. I would not consider it a crutch, but hey if someone is going to help streamline the process of funding a business, any business regardl
Although high-price products do sell on the Internet, you have a natural advantage if you sell lower value items.
2. What Is Your Target Market?
Any Internet enthusiast will tell you that you can sell to customers anywhere in the world as soon as you have an e-commerce website.
If you run a conventional business that supplies to customers in a specific geographic area, the prospect of being able to sell across the world can be very enticing.
However, fulfilling an overseas order can be quite onerous: should you charge VAT to customers based outside the EU? Do you have to pay excise duties if you send an order to America? How much will it cost to deliver an order to New Zealand?
With this in mind, many business owners choose to restrict their website to accepting orders from the UK only, particularly while their e-commerce site is in its early stages. The downside of selling to a more confined market can sometimes be a sensible price to pay.
3. Payment Processing - Real-time or Offline?
Many websites complete online transactions at the exact time of purchase, while the customer is still viewing the website. This is real-time processing and it uses a Payment Service Provider (PSP) – an online service that provides:
- A secure environment in which the customer can safely enter credit / debit card details;
- An automated connection to the banking system, so that the card transaction can be verified and checked;
Alternatively, off-line processing means that your website will simply collect the customer’s card details and store them securely on the server. The transaction is processed manually at a later date, usually by the website owner using a PDQ machine (credit card swipe machine).
Real-time processing requires no intervention on your behalf. As the website owner, you will be notified when a transaction is processed (although you will not see the customer’s card details) and you will then fulfil the order accordingly. Because this is an automated solution, it is hassle-free although it can be more costly, as your bank and the PSP will both take a percentage of the value of each transaction.
Off-line processing is dependent on your involvement, which can prove time consuming but it does provide you with the opportunity to vet customers’ orders before you accept their payments.
4. How Will You Attract Customers To Your Website?
If you run a conventional retail outlet, you will be familiar with the adage that the three most important factors in retailing are "location, location, location". Retailers know that a good location, with a steady stream of passing traffic, guarantees a high level of footfall.
Passing traffic is equally important for an e-commerce website. The most beautifully-designed, functional site will not generate revenue from online sales unless it receives visitors. An effective, well-planned approach to driving traffic to your website is a vital component of a successful e-commerce site.
Your immediate thoughts about generating visitors may involve Internet-based marketing. A prominent listing in Google, Yahoo and other leading search engines will invariably produce visits, so a well-optimised website may well be important. Similarly, a marketing campaign based on Google AdWords™ can also direct prospective cus
The task of creating an indelible impact on the memory of your target market is arduous but can be made much easier with a well thought out logo. The word comes from the ancient Greek where it was used in philosophy and theology to mean “the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning.” The function of a logo in today’s business world is much the same – to make the visual identification of your company implicit by giving it form and meaning.The form and meaning of a logo are expressed in three elements – name, slogan, and icon. Think for a moment of the fabulously successful sporting goods and apparel company, Nike. The name obviously, is the name of the company. The slogan “Just do it” explains the meaning, philosophy, or emotional expression of the name. The “swoosh” icon is a visual representation of the name. Together the name, slogan and icon form a powerful “logo-ized” representation of the company which is vital to the brand. Today, because of their constant use, logos of many national companies (think Nike, McDonalds, Travelers Insurance) are indelibly imprinted somewhere in our brains.While the logos of most companies will never attain that level of memory retention, it will be a great advantage to make their logo more memorable and identifiable to their marketplace – the prospects, clients, and possible
- A secure environment in which the customer can safely enter credit / debit card details;
- An automated connection to the banking system, so that the card transaction can be verified and checked;
Alternatively, off-line processing means that your website will simply collect the customer’s card details and store them securely on the server. The transaction is processed manually at a later date, usually by the website owner using a PDQ machine (credit card swipe machine).
Real-time processing requires no intervention on your behalf. As the website owner, you will be notified when a transaction is processed (although you will not see the customer’s card details) and you will then fulfil the order accordingly. Because this is an automated solution, it is hassle-free although it can be more costly, as your bank and the PSP will both take a percentage of the value of each transaction.
Off-line processing is dependent on your involvement, which can prove time consuming but it does provide you with the opportunity to vet customers’ orders before you accept their payments.
4. How Will You Attract Customers To Your Website?
If you run a conventional retail outlet, you will be familiar with the adage that the three most important factors in retailing are "location, location, location". Retailers know that a good location, with a steady stream of passing traffic, guarantees a high level of footfall.
Passing traffic is equally important for an e-commerce website. The most beautifully-designed, functional site will not generate revenue from online sales unless it receives visitors. An effective, well-planned approach to driving traffic to your website is a vital component of a successful e-commerce site.
Your immediate thoughts about generating visitors may involve Internet-based marketing. A prominent listing in Google, Yahoo and other leading search engines will invariably produce visits, so a well-optimised website may well be important. Similarly, a marketing campaign based on Google AdWords™ can also direct prospective cus
Once to decide to sell other people's products you then have to figure out a way to sell them. Hopefully the person or company you are selling for has contacts of companies to sell these products. Having leads or referrals to go on provides you a target of people who you know are interested in the products.To sell other people’s products simply promote them as if they were your own. It’s easier to sell or promote items that you have used and therefore have more knowledge on. This allows you to be more informed about the benefits of the items and provides personal experience as to why the person should purchase these products from you. Having a personal experience shows the potential buyer that you are dedicated to the products.They don’t have to be aware that these products aren’t yours. They don’t care whose they are as long as they are good, reliable, and meet the needs they have. Using various forms of advertising as well as social networking will aide you in selling these products. Set up a web site and promote the items as if they were your own. Set up a link to the owners web page if need be and provide an ID number that links you to the product sold. Selling other’s peoples products is a great form of income. There is less stress on you when selling other products as well as less overhead and expenses. Selling other peoples products is very simple!
Off-line processing is dependent on your involvement, which can prove time consuming but it does provide you with the opportunity to vet customers’ orders before you accept their payments.
4. How Will You Attract Customers To Your Website?
If you run a conventional retail outlet, you will be familiar with the adage that the three most important factors in retailing are "location, location, location". Retailers know that a good location, with a steady stream of passing traffic, guarantees a high level of footfall.
Passing traffic is equally important for an e-commerce website. The most beautifully-designed, functional site will not generate revenue from online sales unless it receives visitors. An effective, well-planned approach to driving traffic to your website is a vital component of a successful e-commerce site.
Your immediate thoughts about generating visitors may involve Internet-based marketing. A prominent listing in Google, Yahoo and other leading search engines will invariably produce visits, so a well-optimised website may well be important. Similarly, a marketing campaign based on Google AdWords™ can also direct prospective customers to your website.
However, just because your shop exists online, you should not overlook off-line marketing as an effective means of generating visitors. Press releases, word-of-mouth referrals, magazine advertising and PR all have a part to play in your overall marketing strategy.
Many website owners focus too much on their site’s functionality and "look and feel" and then find that it is the lack of traffic that causes their website to fail. Understanding how you will generate visitors to your website is the most important factor in your e-commerce plans.
5. Do You Understand The Legal Issues?
Using your website to trade online introduces legal obligations that may not apply if you have a brochure-style website.
E-commerce website owners cannot trade anonymously. Your e-commerce site should show your contact details, including a full postal address, as well as details of the legal owner of the site.
You should also be aware that customers have the legal right to return a product bought from your website within 7-days of delivery. A customer does not need to provide a reason and you cannot refuse to accept the returned item (unless your products are exempt, as is the case with food retailers and businesses that sell personalised items).
Data protection, copyright and accessibility are other key legal issues that apply to online trading and you should consult the DTI’s website or talk to a solicitor to get suitable advice.
6. How Will You Choose an Appropriate Website Designer?
Website designers broadly fall into one of three categories:
- Graphic design firms offer print-based design services in addition to designing websites
- Multimedia artists create sophisticated design work, often involving 3D animation and sound
- Web developers have more of an IT bias and their technical skills are well-suited to building web applications as well as website design
Choosing a new website designer can be difficult so ensure that you check the following before you make your choice:
- Have they developed e-commerce websites before? Ask for addresses of other clients’ websites and visit each site to check that it works well
- Are they knowledgeable about key e-commerce issues such as payment processing and website marketing? Ask them to explain how they would approach this for your website
- Do they follow a structured approach to their work or do things appear somewhat haphazard? A successful e-commerce website will require careful planning and you do not want to suffer just because your website designer is anxious to get the job done
It is important to check that your website will include e-commerce features that give you sufficient flexibility and control:
- Product updates – ideally, you want to be in control of your website once it is developed, so you will need the facility to update product details as and when you wish, without needing involvement of your website designer
- Stock control – retailers and distributors who can source products with a short lead-time can use their website to sell unlimited stock. Other businesses may need their website to enforce stock control, which allows the website owner to specify how many items are available at any time
- Discounts and offers – you may wish to apply a discount to certain products or place an item on special offer. Buy-one-get-one-free, x% discount and free delivery are typical special offers that you can apply
- Selling overseas – if you are selling outside the UK, how well will your website cater for overseas customers? Can you show product prices in different currencies, for example? Can you apply a different delivery charge depending on whether the customer is buying from the UK, Europe or the rest of the world?
E-commerce is no longer a fashionable buzzword; nor is it the latest IT fad. E-commerce is a permanent part of everyday business and you should plan your e-commerce website to ensure its long-term success.
Iceberg Internet provides successful e-commerce websites for clients in a variety of ind
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