Creating Your
Online Storefront
By the eCommResourceCenter
Next time you are in your favorite shop, take a look around. Look at how the products
are displayed, where they are situated, how they are organized, and how lighting,
architecture, and décor enhance product appeal. Look at the detail involved in
creating atmosphere, in warmly welcoming the client, in providing key information
and facilitating customer interest, customer action.
E-commerce is no different. An online store must emulate the same design principles
and accomplish the same strategic tasks of attracting visitors, fixing their attention,
and moving them to action. Sound web design is the cornerstone of effective online
commerce, and neglecting the key details and nuances of storefront development
can mean disaster for your e-enterprise. How a storefront is composed, how a product
catalogue is displayed, how online shopping carts and payment options are integrated
into the 'total design' are important - and intricate - questions.
Perhaps the most important principle of storefront design is to build a site that
conforms to the expectations, questions, and demands of your customers. This means
anticipating what your customer needs, predicting what questions will be asked,
and quickly providing the answers in a navigable format that keeps your customer
oriented and engaged. Contentand Interfaceare equally critical to solid design,
so pay the same attention to both. Below are some fundamentals for establishing
an effective, customer-friendly web site.
Easy navigation is based on sound organization. A storefront should be organized
in a convenient manner that answers customer inquiries before they are even made.
Make your storefront manageable for the reader with efficient directories and
indexes that lead the customer directly to their shopping goal or specific area
of interest. Scaffold information in a logical manner and avoid 'nesting' more
than two levels of menus. Make sure your product lines are categorized and formatted
in an orderly fashion. And never frustrate your visitor with chaotic or superfluous
content.
The initial goal of a commercial web site is to educate, so make your content
comprehensive - but also make it compact, clear and forceful in style. Economical,
dynamic writing will keep your web content focused and your visitors engaged.
The 'look' of your site is the first thing to impact your customer. Impressive
graphics, manageable, easy-to-read formatting, and a unique atmosphere that distinguishes
your site from others are all vital in attracting and holding the attention of
customers. Company logos and design layouts should remain consistent between pages
so the customer acquires a sense of company identity, gets a unique feel for your
site and product line. Remember, everything should be fast-loading and tastefullypresented.
If your web site is complex or your online catalogue is vast, incorporate a search
feature into your storefront. Your store should cater to all types of shoppers.
The person leisurely browsing your virtual shelves may not cast a second glance
at a product search engine; the customer zeroed in on a specific item will choose
it every time. Of course, stores with only a few products can get away with a
well-reasoned organizational system. But if you carry any sort of inventory at
all, you need a product search feature. Customers expect as much.
Originally appeared at http://www.ecomresourcecenter.com/build/createstorefront.html.
E-commerce Setup Basics
Reprint courtesy Keith Downing at HelpWithHosting.com
At the heart of any e-commerce solution is the shopping cart software. You'll
want to experiment with the various shopping cart packages available, and see
which ones fit your site style, data processing needs, and customer expectations.
Many hosts offer traditional commercial packages, such as Miva, while many others
have their own privately developed software. Some even offer their clients multiple
shopping cart options. This may be ideal if you plan to start small and upgrade
later as your site grows.
If you have a large catalog and a broad customer base, you may want to consider
sticking to the established software packages. However, if you're new to e-commerce,
a host's built-in solution may be exactly what you need to get your site launched
as easily and quickly as possible. Many of the solutions developed by hosts target
newcomers, programmed with simplicity and speed in mind, whereas more established
commercial packages often focus on advanced feature sets to meet a variety of
complex needs. This often adds to the price and also to the complexity of the
setup process.
The best way to decide what suits your needs is to look over the demos, both of
the software packages available through the hosting providers and also those sold
commercially. Note, however, that not every host provides a demo, so it may take
some searching to find a good cross section of shopping cart packages from which
to choose.
Once you've found a shopping cart solution which meets your needs, you will more
than likely want to proceed to the real fun of e-commerce -- setting yourself
up to accept your customers' money. Things get tricky here, so pay attention because
the wrong solution can lead to some real problems down the road.
To start, you'll need a way to accept credit cards, generally via a merchant credit
card account. This type of account is generally setup through a bank in conjunction
with the credit card companies. If you don't have a merchant account, and choose
not to acquire one, you will need to implement a third party billing solution.
If you have a merchant account, you will more than likely want to process your
customers' purchases online in real time. Smaller operations with fewer customers
may be able to save credit card information to a file and process purchases by
hand. However, keep in mind that as your operation grows this will become very
time consuming. If you want to process your orders in real-time, you will want
to find a host which allows access to an authorization gateway, such as Authorize.Net
or Yahoo!
Stores, also provide authorization as part of their offerings.
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If you do not have a merchant account, you have a wide variety of choices for
third party billing systems from which you can choose. However, remember the caveat
to third party billing systems - your store name will not appear on your customers'
billing statements. You must take care to alert your customers as to what will
appear on their statements. Even with such information, many customers will not
remember the purchase, and will attempt charge-backs without first contacting
the billing company. Don't let this discourage you, as such instances are usually
rare, but do be prepared to keep in communication with your customers. If you
decide to go this route their are a number of popular third party billing systems
available, including WorldPay, and 2Checkout.
Reading the information available at such company's web sites will further educate
you on the issues involved with third party billing.
Another option for online payment processing is PayPal,
which differs somewhat from other third party billing systems. On the down side,
PayPal requires your customers to sign up as PayPal members. For those customers
who are not already PayPal members, this can be a deterrent to sales. On the up
side, however, there are no startup fees for PayPal, and the percentage of each
sale retained by PayPal is much lower than most other third party systems. Check
the companies website for more information on PayPal shoping cart integration
and payment processing. Looking to buy
or sell an existing website?
Originally appeared at http://www.helpwithhosting.com/e-commerce2.html
Here'sMySite, Where'sMySales?©
By Peggie Brown
Build it, They Will Come.......
Building "it" might have worked in the movie, The Field of Dreams, but
building a website is only the beginning, not the end to sales. Prior to building
your website, we trust you defined your target audience, ensuring your site speaks
to that specific audience. If not, stop and go no further until this is done.
When your site speaks to the wrong audience, or doesn't speak to any audience,
your end goal of marketing your product or service is already defeated. No, it's
not something you can fake and hope it turns out okay, it won't. On the off chance
that you didn't even define a target audience, this must be your first step. If
you don't know why a specific audience needs your product or service, how are
they suppose to know?
Reaching For Your Target
Next, determine how your defined market is reached - if your product or service
is for teens, you'll want to get out the word on MP3 sites, rock stations, local
teen hangouts etc. Assuming your market targets business professionals, identify
what business professionals need and how your product or service answers those
needs. In other words, the product or service defines the market.
Let's narrow this discussion to those selling web design services as an example.
Understand, the same principles work for any product or service, but the specifics
change.
Realize that those selling web design services must still tighten their niche
definition to those desiring a particular type of web design services. Are you
marketing to an audience with a budget of $100,000 or those with a budget of $10,000?
Does your market demand the latest in innovation, java programming, databases
and/or Flash® technology; or do they want simple, eye catching designs with great
navigation that clearly defines and sells their product? Certainly, choosing a
target audience that wants something you do not have is a poor business decision
and a great way to fail.
A Great Design, The Latest Technology, But
No Sales
Most of us know that a great design won't hold most visitors long and certainly
won't bring many visitors back. There are just too many great website designs
available. Even innovative designs attracting many visitors are failures if all
the visitors are web designers taking a quick peek to grab some code, get some
ideas or just marvel at the cool innovation if the site is meant to sell design
services to large law firms. With simply a great design, chances are most of your
market will never see your designs until your competitor figures out how to market
the same type of designs to the audience you failed to reach. We also know a bad
design kills businesses pretty quick because no one gets to the sale of product
or service if they can't figure out how to navigate through the site, or if the
design merely demonstrates you chose a designer have no design talent. A well
designed site won't reveal your client's tight budget.
Establishing
Your Expertise
If you don't have a target audience, you won't hold anyone's interest for long.
And, if you don't give expertise to your target audience prior to asking them
to think of you as an expert, you won't earn expert status with them.
So what's the answer? Well, first define your audience, build your site content
and offer information desired by your target audience. Next, find ways to establish
yourself as an expert in whatever it is that you are an expert. If you don't have
an expertise - get one and don't waste your money and time trying to obtain clients
desiring what you don't have to sell. Paying clients shouldn't have to pay for
you to learn. Learn, then sell, but remember to keep learning if you want your
business to grow.
How do you establish yourself? Again, it takes a lot of giving. Prepare newsletters,
write for other newsletters, get additional design experience and build your portfolio
by doing free or low cost sites for charitable organizations in your community.
Write tutorials, prepare free scripts, fonts, programs, or whatever you do to
give away. The old adage "give and you will receive" is true, as long as you give
something of value.
Develop a Portfolio
Most people purchase products and services from those who demonstrate up front
that they not only have a good product or service to sell, but also that they
understand their product or service and will support the same.
As an example: if you are a website designer, two sites in your portfolio aren't
going to cut it. You need more. So if no one wants to hire your because you lack
in experience, how are you going to get experience? A Catch Twenty-Two, but here's
a suggestion: work for cut rate prices, work with another designer who will help
you build your experience and portfolio while providing services to them or design
sites for free to charities that really can use web sites. Build templates for
small businesses that aren't willing to put out much money for a web site and
market these templates at very reasonable prices.
When you then sell one of these templates, make sure you work extra long and extra
hard to encourage your client to build the best website possible and to grow their
website as they learn from you that having a web presence is better than sliced
bread. Work hard at learning how to submit your clients' sites to the search engines
so that they obtain excellent results. Give them more than they expected.
Once again, our example used the web design business, but the same concepts work
for just about any business. The overriding concepts being, do what you need to
do to build some creditability. Organizations in your community can always use
your services and you establish not only your willingness to give, but your expertise.
Content Really IS King
One of the best ways I know to market is to give something of value. Katsuey's
Legal Gateway took off like wildfire and continues to enjoy a goodly amount
of traffic - why? Because it answers the need of a targeted audience and it stays
focused and true to that audience. Notice that all the content (and there is tons
of content at the site) is totally free. The site is not a revenue generator,
but the site has established KatsueyDesignWorks as an experts in things
that do generate revenue, such as speaking engagements, presentations and designing
sites for small to medium sized businesses, particularly for law firms and legal
organizations.
I spend a lot of time educating my clients how important content is, but just
any content won't do. It must be desired content by those to whom you want to
sell your product or service.
You are a Professional, Act Like One
Understanding your audience (okay, they've become clients at this point, but the
question remains as to whether they will be happy clients) doesn't care about
your business problems, how much your business is growing, how busy you are or
even that your children are home, smack in the middle of your office with chickenpox.
Well, okay, maybe they'll show a bit of sympathy if your grandmother dies, but
even that excuse wears very thin on the sixth time around! Your clients want you
to fulfill your promises that they now see as contractual obligations whether
the promises were in writing or not.
When new in the business, I way underestimated my time to get a site up and going
and I suffered losses because of it, more than once. But notice, it was me that
suffered, not my client. Happy customers became the top mission of KatsueyDesignWorks
since we recognized that customer service is a lost art and we have the ability
to provide unequaled customer service along with excellent designs, great content
and expert site layouts. Our clients get everything we promise and then some.
We continue to maintain those relationships, whether the clients send us referrals
or not. However, we vastly improve our chances of great referrals by staying true
to our mission and providing professional services.
No doubt about it, referrals are nice, but in most cases, until you are well established
in the industry, referrals won't keep you in morning donuts. Once you become well
established, you've already found the answer to success, so referrals become gravy.
Summary
In later articles, we will discuss developing site content and marketing products
and services in more detail. For now, to summarize this article, each retailer
has to find their own answer as to who will be their target audience. The best
target audience for one business is not a good audience at all for another. However,
if you don't answer this all important question prior to beginning your site design,
content building and marketing efforts, those efforts will fail.
Peggie is president of Brown Holdings LLC and works as a web site developer for
medium sized businesses wanting a professional image on the Internet. KatsueyDesignWorks
http://www.KatsueyDesignWorks.com
is a full service development company offering solutions in web site design and
site remodeling, ecommerce solutions, content creation, web master services, search
engine optimization, link development, web site hosting and domain name registrations.
Originally appeard at http://www.katsueydesignworks.com/Here'sSite.htm.
The
Five Most Commonly Encountered, Off-putting E-commerce Errors
by Marcia Yudkin
While getting less public handwringing than during holiday season, the "abandoned
shopping cart problem" continues to wreak havoc on online sales. Recently I judged
a raftload of sites for the Webby Awards (my second time) and for the Inc. magazine
Web Awards, as well as for my own clients. Here are the five irritants and obstacles
that most frequently disrupt the visitor's shopping experience at e-commerce sites.
1. Lack of quick orientation for first-time visitors.
What does the site sell? I've had to poke around for several minutes sometimes
to understand the focus of a site. Jargon is one culprit. Another is lack of context,
like an airline site that sells tickets not giving a single clue on the home page
in what countries or even what continent it flies.
2. Explanations that don't explain.
What does the product do and not do? Another basic, but it happens often that
a site doesn't explain whether their "Turbocharge VT27-Plus" is a one-time download,
a subscription, a Web-based service or something else. An alternative payment
system's site failed to offer a clear, systematic description of how it works.
3. Missing prices and shipping charges.
How much? You shouldn't have to put something into a shopping cart or enter your
credit card information to learn how much an item costs, including shipping. Unfortunately,
you still find this mistake at sites that have had plenty of time to get their
act together.
4. Unreadable text.
Say what? Creativity gone haywire seems to be the hallmark of some Web designers.
Orange letters on a blue background, olive green on black, light gray on white
and blue on blue were combinations that sent me packing, as did lettering too
small for over-40 eyes.
5. Inconsistencies.
Huh? One site says, "To sign up, click on the Sign Up link at the top of every
page." But the site does not have any "Sign Up" link, only "Sign In." Such carelessness
wastes the time of earnest shoppers and gets them frustrated and fed up, never
to return.
Blunders are equally rampant at well-funded corporate sites and those from home-based
businesses. The good news is that many of the errors are extremely easy and inexpensive
to fix.
Marketing guru Marcia Yudkin is the author of Poor Richard's Web Site Marketing
Makeover: Improve Your Message and Turn Visitors into Buyers, from Top Floor Publishing
http://www.yudkin.com/mmakeover.htm
and numerous other books on marketing. She recently began offering Web site reviews
for just $40 at http://www.yudkin.com/sitereview.htm.
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