eCommerce

Nowadays, building a basic website has become a very easy job, with all of the DIY builders and simple tools available. If you only need to share a little bit of information, some images, and have some social media feeds, options like Wix could be perfect for you, giving you the chance to build a site in no time at all. But, for those in need of an online store, things get a little bit different. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring the major differences between a basic website and an eCommerce store.

Content Production: Most websites need to have some text to make sure that they are able to appeal to users. Along with this, they will often have images, and both will be produced to a semi-decent level. When it comes to eCommerce, though, photos and copy have to be produced to an incredibly high level. You can use some examples of existing sites to help you with this part of the job.

SEO: Most of the websites on the internet have less than 12 pages, making them easy to build to be SEO friendly. An eCommerce website, though, could have thousands, and will need a dedicated eComm SEO Service to be able to get good rankings. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that this part of their website build will be easy. In reality, it will be a big challenge, and most people won’t be able to do it without some serious learning.

Social Media Marketing: Having become one of the most popular marketing tools in the world, social media is very important, nowadays. In 2017, it was estimated that Facebook influenced over 50% of online purchases in some way or another, making it and it’s alternatives incredibly powerful and filled with potential. It will be worth having someone with a lot of experience to handle this part of the job, as it will be hard to know how to play these platforms without some background knowledge.

Security: Most websites are equipped with encryption, making it very hard for hackers and other criminals to break into the important data inside. When you’re dealing with payment information, addresses, and other sensitive details, you have to work extremely hard to keep them secure. Your host will play a huge role in this, as they are the front line when it comes to defending the store. Along with this, though, you could consider having some plugins and other security measures in place as a backup in case the server fails.

Making an eCommerce website is always a big job, and you will have to do loads on your journey to the heart of it. To help you out with this, there are loads of services out there, and most of them are very reasonably priced. This makes it nice and easy to build a website which not only captivates your users, but also improves your chances of making sales and earning money.

You only get one chance to make a first impression. And never is that truer than when it comes to your company website. Studies show that web users allot an average of 3 seconds to their initial scan of the page – and if what they see doesn’t appeal, isn’t fit for purpose or it isn’t clear how to do what they want, you’ve quickly lost them. That’s why it’s a business essentially to continually invest in updating, refining, user testing and optimizing your website. Essentially, your site is your shop window to the world – if you don’t get it right, you’ll never entice potential customers and clients to come inside and take a closer look. The sheer volume of information we all process on an average day means that getting our attention is much harder – and your business needs to compete. So what are the crucial factors you need to take a cold, hard look at?

Design

What message do you want to give to the world? Smart design should never be an afterthought. Look for examples of amazing web design to inspire you as to what’s possible. If you want your website to tell people that you’re comfortable with mediocrity, wont go above and beyond, don’t care about your customers and won’t spend money to improve your business then you can afford to be comfortable with second-rate design. Not sounding good? Then you need to pay attention to the small details. Color choice, branding, fonts, image – what message are they sending out? Do some research with your intended customers, as their perceptions may well surprise you, especially if it’s quite a different demographic from the one you belong to.

Navigation

Think about your own experiences with websites that bury key information within child pages, or are slow to load. What if you can’t find a way to do what you want to do? Immediately you get an impression of a company that doesn’t care about your business. Small business can be big offenders as they don’t have the necessary expertise to develop marketing-driven web design. Make working with a professional high up your list of priorities. You’ll be surprised how much they can boost your conversions and minimize bounce rates. Design an information architecture that is intuitive and easy to navigate for your target audience and avoid cluttered pages and menus with too much information.

Mobile Optimization

Increasingly, web browsing is mobile browsing. As use of tablets and smartphones continues to grow year on year, you simply cannot afford to leave mobile optimization of your website as an afterthought. 48% of web users state they will immediately go elsewhere if they land on a site that isn’t geared up for mobile, and they believe it’s a sign that a business doesn’t care about their custom. Good modern design is mobile responsive, designed for browsing on a smaller screen. It’s regarded as a hygiene factor now, not even good service. Spend time improving the mobile experience and you’ll win a lot of business.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur who is boasting a successful company or you’re an industry ingénue in the early stages of your career, there are many ways in which online businesses can thrive in a competitive world. You need to stay on top of the hot topics out there and stay one step ahead of your competitors. From upping your eco-friendly angle to promoting your products perfectly there are a handful of things which you can do in order to improve your overall business. Get yourself into gear and prepare for a few stages which will see your business catapult from unassuming to unstoppable.

1. Online Overhaul

If your entire business is built around your online content you need to make sure it’s at the top of its game right? You may have sailed through the initial stages of setting up websites and online stores, but if you look closely at other companies you may see flaws in your online services. Consider a complete overhaul and get some advice from companies such as Magento Managed Support Services. Their experts can assist you in getting the most out of your online store and they will keep your site looking smooth and slick. Put your trust in the professionals and let them completely transform the way you work

2. Save Your Software

Don’t settle for anything less than the best when it comes to the software you’re using on a daily basis. Slow and out of date software can decrease productivity immensely, so make sure you’re keeping up to speed with the latest updates. Keep your eye out for super systems that can change the way you carry out your work. You may be missing out on important tricks which will grab your potential consumers’ attention, so stay on top of the technology you’re using.

3. Equality For Employees

Make sure you’re treating your employees in the best way possible. Keeping staff morale and motivation high is the key to a successful business. When you’re recruiting for new members of staff, make sure you open up applications to all and include diversity schemes to keep your company fair and ethical. Recognize outstanding employees’ efforts and ensure they get the rewards they deserve. Don’t turn a blind eye to any of your staff and make sure your workplace is a vibrant and inclusive environment for work.

4. Listen and Learn

Carry out regular stints of market research and listen to your valued consumers. Their feedback can provide you with the details you need in order to keep your business on top form. There may be demand for a new product or service that you weren’t aware of. Perhaps there are areas in which you could improve on in order to increase customer satisfaction. Listen to those who are most important to you and give the people what they want!

5. Evolve and Excel

Keep your online store and services up to date with unique content. Make sure your services are evolving and adapting to the surrounding markets, so that you’re keeping up with your competitors. Keep your ideas fresh and change up your innovations. Never settle for a finished product and keep your brain bubbling with those ingenious ideas.

6. Focus on Finances

Your finances should never be neglected as you could find yourself in hot water if you choose to overlook those. If your business is growing you might want to consider getting an accountant, who can advise you on your expenses and make sure your taxes are in order. Create a budgeting plan for the next year and be sure to stick within your plan. If you can lower your overheads or outgoing bills try and tackle this as soon as you can. Once you’re on top of your business finances you will be able to see how much you can invest in growing your business in order to reach a wider market.

7. Green and Glorious

Businesses are becoming more and more popular for their eco-friendly stances and environmentally friendly policies. Reduce your carbon footprint by running energy saving offices, which use efficient light bulbs and always turn of their electronic devices after use. Attempt to go paperless in your workspace too; you might just be glad of the desk decluttering. Try not to print meeting notes and emails whenever possible in order to reduce your use of paper and always encourage your staff to bring in their own coffee cups and reusable water bottles. Marketing your business and green will have way more positive effects than you think!

So get on board with these simple ideas in order to enhance the success of your business. Just a few simple changes to your day to day running will dramatically improve your income and overall job satisfaction.

If your online startup takes payments from customers, you need to accept credit cards. There really isn’t any way around that. Now, you could just add a PayPal button to your site and collect customer payments that way, but it’s not always ideal. Sure, it’s quick and easy, but it doesn’t allow for very much branding, and not all of your customers will be comfortable using the site to send money.

Therefore, to support a professional image and provide the best possible service to your customers, you need to find a better way of accepting credit cards on your site. As with anything having to do with your business, you have some important things to think about before you get started with this.

1. Where Is the Money Going?

Obviously, the money that you collect from customers goes into the company’s coffers. But there are two ways to do this: Sending the money directly to your bank, or to a payment processor that then delivers the money to your account.  Each method has its pros and cons, and you’ll need to weight them against each other.

To send credit card payment funds right to your bank account, you will need to establish an Internet Merchant Account with your bank. When you do this, your bank acts on your behalf as the “acquirer” of the funds, confirming the availability of funds, collecting them, and depositing them into your account. If you choose this route, you will also need to choose a payment service provider (PSP) to serve as a type of point-of-sale terminal, collecting the card details and scanning for fraud and other security issues, before sending the information to your bank for processing.

You’ll have to pay fees for both providers, and your bank is likely to require that you adhere to strict security requirements in order to comply with payment card security standards. However, your PSP is likely to supply a wide range of customized options so you can create a system that best meets your needs, including meeting the requirements of applicable PCI compliance levels.

The other option for collecting credit card payments is to use a payment processing gateway to collect your payments for you, eliminating the need to set up an IMA and PSP. PayPal and Google Checkout are two of the most popular options for this type of setup, but there are some drawbacks. While they are easier to install on your site from a technical standpoint, they also redirect customers to their site to make payment. This can cause concern among customers, and doesn’t support your company branding. In addition, some companies will hold your payments for up to 60 days before depositing them, and you are likely to pay higher fees than you would with an IMA/PSP arrangement. That being said, if you are a relatively new business, establishing an IMA can sometimes be challenging, and using a third-party payment gateway can help you get up and running and build a solid trading history.

2. The Checkout Process Matters

Once you have determined how you’re going to collect funds, you need to start thinking about your checkout process. On average, about 70 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned during the checkout process — and almost half of them are because the checkout process is too long or complicated.

You can reduce abandoned carts and increase sales if you keep a few things in mind when setting up the checkout process:

• Allow customers to check out without setting up an account. Many people don’t want to do this because they fear spam emails, and will buy elsewhere if it is a requirement.
• Only request relevant information. Again, if the process takes too long and asks for too many details, customers will click away.
• Include clear calls to action and a visual representation of the checkout process to help guide customers through the process quickly.
• Include visuals of the items being purchased in the cart, as well the option to edit items (change quantities, sizes, etc.) from the checkout page.

Keeping the checkout system streamlined, but still informational, will keep customers engaged in the purchase process.

3. Be Mindful of Security

Finally, while your payment processor will help you comply with security regulations, you should still reassure your customers that their payment information is safe. More than half of customers will cancel a transaction due to concerns about security, so make it clear that you take security seriously. Implement multi-layer authentication for those with an account, use SSL protection, display SSL and PCI badges on your site, and choose a payment processor that uses address verification and requires a card ID number to authenticate purchases to give your customers peace of mind.

Accepting credit card payments on your site is key to your bottom line, but you need to do so safety and efficiently. Consider these issues before you design your site, and your startup will get off the ground more smoothly.

It seems weird that a physical store has to accept credit cards, but the days of handling cash are over. Okay, so there people who still deal with cold, hard cash. But, these people are fewer and farther apart than ever before. It’s an irrefutable fact that the majority of customers use a thin piece of plastic to make payment. If your store isn’t on the bandwagon, there’s a healthy chance that it will miss out on lots of custom.

Below are four more reasons why stores have to accept e-payments in today’s day and age.

Flexibility

A business which doesn’t take credit cards forces customers to make a choice. The choice is simple: you can shop here, but you need to have cash in your pocket. Some people won’t mind this ultimatum because it won’t impact them whatsoever. But, the majority will bounce to a competitor because it makes their life harder. Consumers don’t want to bother ensuring they have pocketfuls of money before they hit the high street. Instead, customers see something they like and make a spur of the moment purchase. Without a card machine, it isn’t possible.

Competition

Even if you don’t agree with their methods, you have to be aware of how your rivals operate. Why? It’s because they may stumble on a technique which increases their market share. Simply put, more than three-quarters of your competitors will use paymentsprocessing.co to acquire a POS system. So, that means you have to mirror them or risk getting left behind in their dust. You might not think it’s an essential piece of equipment, but the figures say otherwise. Anyway, there is no harm in trying the material to see if it works. A point of sale machine isn’t expensive and is easy to resell.

Upselling

In short, to upsell is to offer extra products which customers didn’t plan on buying. It’s an excellent way to shift additional units because consumers tend to give in to temptation. However, they will only throw extra items into their basket if they have the means to pay. Say they just have enough cash to cover the essential things, they are immune to upselling. It isn’t because they are strong-willed but because you have limited their options. A credit card machine encourages regular sales and additional ones, too. The amount of money which the company can make from upselling is worth investing in a POS system.

Online

Accepting online transactions is the only way to run an eCommerce site. Frankly, it’s impossible to receive cash via the internet. Sure, you don’t have to set up a website, but the best companies have a digital presence. In fact, fourthsource.com says it’s vital in the modern day industry. Think of a site as a marketing tool which has the potential to move products and services. And, because it’s open 24/7, it’s a constant source of advertising and revenue. Without an online POS system, however, it’s pointless.

It seems strange to think that some stores don’t accept credit cards in 2017. However, they are organizations that haven’t made the switch, and it’s to their detriment.

The most radiant golden nugget of truth you can discover when learning to drive online sales is that the customer is always right. It’s old wisdom for sure, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not still valid. In fact, being customer focused is the single most important way you can increase your sales and profits. Of course, to be successful, you have to learn to apply this concept to each different area of your businesses. Read the post below to find out how.

Product

To drive online sales, you must have a great and innovative product, and it may be that you are a business genius of your time. The next Branson, Gates, or Jobs, but that doesn’t mean that every product idea that your brain farts out is golden. In fact, good products are rarely devised on the first go. They take development, research, and above all a willingness to listen to what customers actually want.

OK, I know Jobs is famous for saying that he designed things that people didn’t even know they wanted yet, but really all that means is that he took the less overt clues. Then developed them into a product that filled a need.

So, do you market research, get reviews, get tests done and see how people really feel about your product. After all, it is those guys that will be putting their hands in their pocket to pay for them. So they definitely need to be your first and last though when coming up with your design.  

Website

Websites are important for driving online sales, no shock there, but is super surprising is that so many people in online sales don’t really know why. They get that you have to have a virtual shop front to display your product and give customers a chance to make a purchase. However, they often remain are unaware of all of the other sales driving benefits that a great website brings to the table.

Benefits like extended customer reach allowing clients to purchase anywhere, at any time. As well as the ability to track customer habits with analytics. Something that enables you the seller to customize their experience to improve it.

A good website will also help you establish that trust relationship with your customers, especially if it’s user-friendly, reliable, and attractive. This is why many business looking for online sales, research the best website builder to use for their needs, thoroughly beforehand. Enabling them to achieve an effective and customer friendly site that looks good on the customer-facing side, helps to drive sales, and is also easy to manage on the content management side of things too.

Marketing content

Something else that is going to fall flat on its face, and drive no sales if not totally focused on your customers is your marketing. Regarding content, the focus should not be on what your company is comfortable producing, but what it is that your customers want.

After all the point of marketing content is to get your brand, and product front of the customer is a positive way. That means if your demographic isn’t responding to video, try podcasts, or if they don’t like articles much, go for infographics instead.

Luckily there is such a huge range of content types that you can use. Just make sure that you make it a priority to identify and then create the ones that your customers respond best to. As it is these that will drive the most sales.

Payments

What is a transaction? It’s when you a company sells a product (or service) to a member the public, and they pay you for it. Without the payment, you are just giving stuff away, and while that is a most noble act. It’s not going to make you much of a profit, or stop that little vein on the side of your CEO’s head from popping out in your next sales meeting. That means payment is significant and not just because it’s what you want to receive but also as it can make or break the customer’s decision on whether to go ahead with the purchase or not.

It’s all about choosing the right payment method to offer. Otherwise, you risk them not wanting to make the effort to put in their credit card details. Having to fill in all those annoying forms that have terrible habit flashing up red and saying you have made an error. When you quite clearly haven’t! No one can be bothered with this. So to help drive sale make the payment part of the transaction as easy as possible.

That means offering a payment option that is popular like PayPal, so it’s easy for your customer to click through. Yes, you will always need to have the credit card option as well, but quick-pay is what people will plump for, given a choice, and you can exploit this minimize the time your customers have to reconsider their purchase. So, closing as many sales as possible.

Delivery

People don’t like missing their packages or having to take a day off work to wait in for the delivery men. They also don’t like to have to wait five weeks for something that they want right now. In fact, this is something that can stop them purchasing altogether. Driving them to look for another vendor that can offer the product in a shorter space of time.

That is why it’s vital that you make sure your delivery process is set up to benefit your customers and not just your company. That means offering a date selection service so customers can ensure that they will be in. It also means offering tracking services, so customers can see when to expect their package. As well as being able to change the delivery options by text or email if they are unexpectedly not going to be there to receive it.

Expedited delivery is something that customers just expect now too and for a reasonable price. Thanks, Amazon Prime! So be careful to include all these focused customer elements in your delivery service to drive the most sales of your product.

Returns

They say to err is human and to forgive divine, but as most of your clients are likely to be the former you had better watch out! As they may decide that they erred when making their purchase from you, and want to return it.

This is problematic for online businesses because it can cost money to have the product picked up, checked and re-entered into stock. As well as the admin costs for refund that needs issuing. However, it is worth factoring these things into your prices in the first place, because offering returns, free ones if possible, is actually a great way to drive online sales.

This is because buying things online is a lot different than going into a shop and making a purchase. You are relying on pictures and a description to help you make your choice, without ever having seen the product in real life. That means it could well be the wrong, shape, color, size when it does arrive, and if you can’t return said item you are now the proud owner of something that is totally useless and has cost you money.

This is something that can stop people making online purchases, although by offering free returns, you can remove this block. As customers feel reassured that even if it does turn out to be not quite right, they will not be out of pocket. Something that also helps to drive more online sales.

Everyone and anyone running a successful business today will tell you how important it is to get yours online. Without that website presence, you might as well be invisible to hundreds and thousands, if not millions, of potential customers. But it’s not enough to get online anymore. You have to keep up. These are a few of the advantages that your competitors might already have over you if you’re not careful.

The race to the top

Google has been a giant since the earliest stage of the internet, but there are few who could have guessed it was so important to having a successful online marketing presence. As https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224785 states, however, your competitors may already be
doing everything they can to make sure they’re as close to the top of relevant Google searches as possible When most people look online for a service, search engines are exactly where they start. SEO is your means of grabbing their attention first. Having first place makes you not only a more convenient trust. It’s also how many consumers measure trustworthiness. Google is a business authority now, so make friends with it.

The other internet

Mobile phones on the internet haven’t been a new thing for over a decade, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth keeping up with. As many people browse and even do business on mobile devices as they do on laptops and desktops. What’s more, your regular internet presence might not be enough for mobile devices, either. Sites have to be made specifically responsive to smaller screens for one. You also have to consider the different ways that people use smartphones compared to computers. For one, social media has a much more powerful presence for smartphone users, just another reason you can’t half-bake your presence there.

Their own platform

There is a way to steal the show and deliver more value directly to your customer without having to share space with your competition, too. As http://www.androidguys.com/2017/09/12/ditch-the-coupons-try-the-dealdash-android-app/ shows, creating your own app can lead to brand new levels of success and an entirely new revenue stream. Whether it’s a new ecommerce store, an omnichannel to work with your physical store, or just a way to offer quotes and support, it’s another way to create a fully branded space, often with more flexibility and function in design than a website.

Find your king

As big of a multimedia engine that the internet is and the breadth of experiences that it offers, it’s simple content marketing that still reigns as king. If your business doesn’t already have one, start a content creation process. Offer tips, news, or just interesting insights that your audience is likely to not only enjoy but share. Even if it isn’t directly promoting your services, it gets the brand spread around and, more importantly, it makes it a trusted authority.

Online marketing isn’t something that you can get started and then drop. It’s a constantly moving side of the business, one that requires you to keep up with it. Fail to do so, and it could be as if you never took the business online to begin with.