Starting an Online Business? - Guide 9 - Building Your Customer Base

Every business that owns a website or ecommerce solution online must include a section where a visitor can leave their email address. This may be to sign up to a newsletter or enter a competition, whatever the instance maybe, having a facility for the visitor to leave their details is essential to future sales and future visits.

Only a small number of visitors will share their information with the website, but those who do can be formed into repeat visitors and potential sales. Ecommerce software that provides latest offers and incentives for the visitor to leave their information, will achieve higher results and greater customer contact.

Protecting a customer base is an important factor for an ecommerce solution as once the visitor has trusted the website to store their information they expect it not to be utilised for other uses. In the ecommerce software privacy statement on the website it is important to keep the businesses word when dealing with customer’s information. In a lot of privacy statements it ought to state that the business will not sell or distribute customers email to others. If the business respects the privacy of its customers and subscribers then it must supply relevant, useful emails, the businesses reward will be repeat visitors and a personal audience for important updates that is made on the website. Some news website send out emails daily but if the website is an ecommerce solution then sending out emails once a week or even monthly may get a bigger response as the customer will not have numerous unimportant emails, just the one relevant, useful email.

Offering incentives to your customer base to share to their friends is now an important marketing tool in today’s social environment. A business may try various incentives before a successful option is conceived. By adding a share button option within an email or on the website opens up the ecommerce solution to other prospective customers and uses the current customer as a reliable sales person. Some other alternatives to get the customer to share the service or product are to give the customer more chances to win in a competition if they share it with their friends or to offer a discount code when they have recommended a certain number of friends.

Building a customer base can greatly increase your visitors and sales on an ecommerce solution, by having a loyal following that use your businesses service and products can bring in a new customer base only available through your current customers. By having a social aspect when building your customer base utilises the change in the current market as customers recommend customers through social media.

The Benefits of M-Commerce and 4G technology

Mobile Commerce also known as m-commerce or mcommere is the capability to use a wireless phone or any other mobile device to conduct business transactions and exchange payments over the internet. With the recent boom in mobile web devices and with seemingly every telecommunications retailer now targeting and pushing smart phones it is no surprise that companies are looking to take advantage of a market still very much in its prime.

There are many advantages to mobile commerce if tackled correctly, providing your organisation with a new opportunity to reach your customers anywhere and anytime, customers can access and purchase your products on the go allowing and helping you increase your reach and overall sales as consumers can access on demand. Mcommerce also provides convenience as time constraints are no longer an issue when individuals can access applications in their own time.

The introduction of 4G will aid and impact mobile commerce dramatically as this means people can download and access sites faster and more efficiently than ever before driving consumers to your site and encouraging mobile search dramatically, this will result in a profound change in ideology as speed and ease of use give confidence to an entire audience that still remains untapped, affording them the opportunity to access an enormous range of information and services in real time securely.

This of course requires companies to ensure that their websites are WAP enabled, and that they are developed with the mcommerce consumer in mind, adopting the philosophy of simplicity, whereby products and services are easy to find, the site is easy to navigate around and it provides an all round positive shopping experience, ensuring that from the moment a potential customer enters the site and until they checkout the buying experience is as relaxing and enjoyable a possible. This will only ever move to aid your progress and success with your mobile commerce site, as it ensures greater customer satisfaction.

Mobile commerce will also present organisations with a very relevant and new means of advertising platform, allowing you to reach your customer base instantly with offers, sales and promotions, building an instant relationship of trust and commitment between potential customers and the organisation and encouraging brand development and customer loyalty.

Starting an Online Business? - Guide 8 – Making The Website Interactive

A big mistake that businesses make is to simply put their current company literature onto a website and expect this to be sufficient to have a maximum impact online. A business does not want a web visitor to have the same experience that they could have from offline literature. The business website must utilise the potential of the internet and form a website that is engaging and communicates to the web visitor on many levels. A successful online business utilises the creativity and communication techniques that can be sought online to give the customer an interactive experience on the website.

Having an interactive ecommerce solution is now an obligation for businesses to sell online. Many businesses fail to add certain elements to their website which engage with the customer, here are the top elements that need to be included in an ecommerce software solution:

Social Bookmarking: The recent Google algorithm update has meant the need for an ecommerce solution to have a social presence is now a necessity. There is now huge traffic and potential customers on social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The ecommerce software must have the ability to link into these sites and interact with their customers. Having sharing buttons on the ecommerce solution so that customers can spread the word on your behalf to their friends and colleagues is a priceless marketing tool and is so simple to incorporate.

The businesses social presence is now benefitting the businesses search results more than ever with the algorithm update. This means that increasing the social brand will benefit the traffic and potential sales. By adding these ‘share’ buttons and ‘like’ buttons will increase your social presence and now that the search engines are using a websites social status as an element when ranking the website they are essential tools that need to be incorporated.

Email Newsletter: Collecting web visitors’ information and statistics is fundamental to the success of an online business, knowing their web habits and behaviours will give the business an advantage over competition. By adding a ‘subscribe to newsletter’ option, the business is then able to gain an email address of the web visitor and interact via email. When the email list starts to grow, it can be become one of your most valuable marketing tools as information can sent directly to the web visitors’ inbox. By engaging with the customer, with their consent, the ecommerce solution is more likely to make a sale, as the customer has expressed an interest in the website already.

Incorporating these elements into a business website will gain the website an exposure to your customers and interact with them to create sales. By utilising the social market will give the business an exposure to a market that is growing all the time and will be the future of how a customer finds your product or service.

Starting an Online Business? - Guide 7 - Advertising The Website

The majority of advertising that an ecommerce solution produces will be performed online although other traditional methods can still impact website visitors. A lot of business that is generated on a website still comes from word of mouth and print advertising, so by having a relevant offline advertising campaign can push potential customers to the website or directly to the shopping cart software. An advertising campaign does not have to take a big slice of your budget if done correctly and used in the right areas. The following areas need to be included in your advertising campaign, both online and offline:

Corporate Identity: All the businesses corporate identity which will include all literature, printed advertisements, business cards and stationery should contain the businesses web address. If the web address is not shown, then people will assume that the business does not have a website. If a special advertisement is made in a magazine or newspaper then a unique web page must be made so the potential customer knows exactly where to go on the ecommerce solution, this web address must be included in advertisement displayed such as ‘mybusiness.com/promotion’.

Create Articles for Internet Publishing: Write about the product or service the business is providing. The internet is now the biggest source of information for people, so by having your articles accepted in online newsletters and publications will essentially be free advertising for the business as the articles will include your business name and web address.

Local Advertising: Radio stations and branded signs can let potential customers know what your business entails and where to find your website. By choosing relevant areas and time slots a business can generate traffic boosts for the advertising campaign.

Networking: Local and National networking events can play a huge part in getting a business recognised. All material that the business person takes with them should incorporate the website address from exhibition stands to business cards.

Seminars: Many businesses now offer to speak about their sector, such as shopping cart software or ecommerce and how they can help businesses. I have spoken to many small business groups, networking groups and trade companies and the feedback has always been positive and generated leads. Most of these groups do not pay for speakers so they always want volunteer speakers. The groups normally book a few months ahead so plan the seminar around relevant topics at that time.

Having a successful advertising campaign that includes your web address on all media is now a necessity for any business that has a website. By including relevant business information in all your advertising will gain the website traffic and potentially sales.

Building An Online Business? – Guide 6 – Marketing The Website

When creating the website for the online business most web designers look over the important aspect of marketing the website once it has gone ‘live’. What is the purpose of a significant amount of money on a website only for nobody to know about it or visit it. The whole purpose of developing a website is to generate traffic that will result in increased business. By having an ecommerce solution with a good marketing campaign behind it will deliver traffic and significant sales through the website.

Having a targeted marketing campaign for the website will deliver relevant, ‘ready to buy’ visitors to your ecommerce solution. By paying for marketing that does not deliver targeted traffic will lose the business money. Your ecommerce software should have marketing tools included with the package; these website marketing tools should feature Facebook, Twitter, Mailing List, Surveys and Blog. These tools that are added to your website give you a presence in social media and to the internet community as a whole so are now essential marketing tools for any business selling online.

Established internet marketing tools, which drive traffic to an ecommerce solution, are now a prerequisite for any successful online business. The following tools are highly recommended to work alongside the ecommerce software to bring in traffic and sales:

1. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): This area covers many aspects but is essential to your website getting the traffic it needs to be successful. The top search engines (Google, YouTube, Bing and Yahoo) generate around 95% of all web searches so by having your ecommerce solution indexed with these search engines is now imperative for any online business. Gaining high rankings (Page 1) in these search engines is the SEO Holy Grail, various factors build-up to generate a high ranking such as; keywords, website content, link building, search engine submission, meta data and other SEO techniques. To find out more visit: ecommerce software and talk to the experts.

2. Pay Per Click (PPC): Many online businesses utilize this marketing tool to gain immediate relevant traffic to their new website. If the business has a marketing budget then the cost for PPC must be high priority, especially if operating an ecommerce solution where all sales are generated online. This tool supplies relevant web users looking for the businesses product and takes them directly to businesses web page for that product. The cost of the PPC campaign varies depending on the products the business sells, if your product has high competition within PPC then a business could be paying £3.00 each time a web user clicks onto the advert. For more information visit ecommerce software and talk to experts.

How A Memorable Slogan Can Change The Perspective Of Your Business With Its Customers

Businesses everywhere are aware of the vital importance that a slogan adds to the branding of their organisation, as it plays a critical role when creating the overall image of the business helping it cement itself into the psyche of customers and shoppers alike. When creating an eBay Store it is equally as significant and beneficial to your over representation to create and have a lasting slogan that is easy, quick and noticeable.

One must never underestimate the sheer volume of sellers on eBay, and along side creating a memorable logo, eBay templates and ensuring maximum potential through unique products and customer service, a slogan will only ever act as a great motivator when trying to reach full selling potential.

A slogan naturally must contain a few words of impact, something memorable, a punch line as per say that many will remember. Nike's "just do it" is a perfect example, you are basically trying to express what your brand is all about and what it stands for in one simple, concise tagline.

One must understand the difficulties of trying to create a great slogan; companies are forever changing their slogans with new improved ones. A good well designed logo put together with a great slogan can work wonders as an advertising element all on their own, creating a marketing business strategy for success.

Your online business whether that is an ecommerce website or an eBay store, will have been created with the overall concept of the site or eBay templates taken into consideration, colours, product placement, design everything will have been meticulously planned, therefore to bring everything together your brand name, logo and slogan must encompass everything you want to say about your business identity projecting it in a positive light. This will not only strengthen your chances of success but will also help create a total brand image that is easily recognisable, easily referenced and encouraged to grow.

Here are some key points to creating a memorable Slogan –

• The Brand - Understand what it is you would like your customers to know about you, your business and your products. What is the ethos behind your eBay store, why did you create it, and what do you want it to project? How do you want it to be remembered?


• Creativity – It is by no means of surprise that we say people today have very short attention spans, therefore by creating slogan that is extremely catchy and that forces its way into viewers minds it will only ever improve the chances of success. Action verbs are a great way to call attention and give your tagline the impact it requires.


• Benefit – Express the benefits of your product through your slogan, by ensuring it induces your brand uniqueness, and how your service will deliver a different but great experience.


• Short and Precise – keep it simple, a tagline is just that. It expresses your views and ambitions in 3 -7 words.


• Believe in it – Trust in your slogan and give it time to develop and create its own identity, don't fall into the trap of consistently changing your tagline as a quick fix.

Building an Online Business? - Guide 5 - Creating The Website

Creating your online business website can be a challenging project if the business owner has no previous experience of building a website, especially an ecommerce website in which to sell online. There are basically four choices that a new business has when wanting to produce a successful website.

The first option is to create the website themselves; this will involve learning or implementing the necessary skills to complete the project. If the business owner has experience in creating websites then the process to create an ecommerce solution should be quick and straightforward. The only negative factor will be the time it takes, as while the business owner is creating the website they are not out selling or marketing their business.

The second option is to employ an in-house web designer, if the website needs to be constantly updated with new products and information, like an ecommerce solution, then this option might be the most cost effective option. Hiring a good web designer is also quite difficult as there are various factors to take into consideration such as, portfolio, character and availability. If the website needs to be up quickly then this process may take some time and may not be right for your ecommerce solution.

The third option is to employ a design agency, this can be the most expensive option as prices vary greatly in this sector. Research local and national design agencies by looking at their current clients and get a strict itemised quote of the work they are going to carry out. It is also worth taking the quote to an internet professional or IT advisor to critique the quote as there may be features that you require or do not require on the quote. By having the quote critiqued, the business owner may save hundreds or even thousands of pounds, because they may end up with a website that looks good but has no functions to market or advertise the website or business.

The final option is to utilise website builder software or ecommerce software. This option is perfect for a business owner looking to save costs, cut time, and manage their website efficiently. There are various ecommerce software packages available but a business owner wants a package that includes all avenues to sell online, advertise, and update quickly. If the website is to sell products online then having ecommerce software that utilises channels such as eBay, Amazon and Facebook is a necessity for any modern online business.

Finding the best solution for the online business is to research the pros and cons of the above options that fit your business idea and requirements. Your website should reflect your business and your attitude towards making a success of selling online.

The Importance Of High Quality Images To A Successful eBay Store

If you are a business looking to sell products online, it is a proven fact that clear, high quality images will massively improve the chances of selling your products. Whether this is through your ecommerce store or eBay store images will greatly enhance your products by adding a visual element to them, portraying the product more accurately improving the customer's appreciation of the product they are viewing or looking to purchase by highlighting features that might have otherwise been lost in translation. High quality images also improve the overall appeal of your store, ensuring that your eBay design and eBay template are not hindered and maximising your stores full potential.

Providing the customer with an enhanced shopping experience should logically be every eBay stores number one priority, this is simply due to the common fact that a happy customer is not only a buying customer but also one that will most likely return again and again.

Therefore providing them with a multitude of images and options when they are browsing your eBay template or eBay design for products with detailed pictures of the items they are looking at, will enable them to distinguish all the features of the product and allow them to get a better feel for the product itself and enhancing the products appeal. Creating and enhancing every possibility you have of a successful sale. It will also more importantly create a superior viewing and browsing experience.

With this in mind there are some tips for optimising your eBay images:

• Cameras with Macro Setting – this will allow you to take close up pictures of products that are small and detailed, ensuring no image blur.


• Tripod – this will aid with stability, guaranteeing a better shot of the product, eliminating the shake.


• High Resolution Shot – ensure you have the ability to enlarge and zoom images, by taking them in high resolution, eBay require a minimum of 1000 pixels length to allow this feature.


• Lighting – this is key to any successful shot, use the white balance in order to help you when trying to take accurate colour shots.


• Multiple angle shots – this will allow you to explain the product better, pointing out details and textures or flaws that may exist with the product, highlighting its best features or ensuring that the customer is aware of any problems with the product itself.


• Photo editing software – this can aid you by allowing you to edit images and applying any touches that may need adding.

Done correctly this will only ever aid the success of your eBay store , and ensure a harmonised synchronicity between you eBay template or eBay design and your images, maximising and enhancing the customers experience and ensuring maximum potential is reached.

The Importance Of Brand Recognition When Creating A Successful Ecommerce Solution

Like many businesses, when looking at creating a unique ecommerce solution, mobile commerce solution or just an ecommerce design, there are many levels that must be recognised, understood and tackled before going into market. A good and effective sales and marketing team can be a plus, however to take your business to the next level you must aspire to create a brand. The mistake made by many is simple, confusing branding with marketing, rather than viewing it as an integral part of the marketing strategy, creating an image and association that can be instantly recognised, related to and connected with.

The importance of brand recognition should never be underestimated; it creates loyalty, awareness and trust, encouraging a life long relationship with the product or service provided, and creates a unique bond between the customer and organisation that can last a life time. Ensuring the quality of your product or service is essential, adding ample value by providing a remarkable service that customers will not receive anywhere else. By creating an entire buying experience you can ensure effective transmission of a product or service that is both unique and that cannot be matched anywhere else.

Naming your business is therefore an essential step to translating your brand, when looking into names you should always concentrate on finding memorable, simple, easy to spell and say words that evoke a certain feeling when they are heard, that also encompass what you stand for as a business.

One should never underestimate the importance of a logo; it can mean, translate and ignite brand recognition with many companies. Most can instantly visualise brands like Facebook, Google, NIke, Coca Cola and Microsoft's logo simply because they are extremely effective, simple and translate the product with a simple image. Creating a unique logo for your ecommerce solution, mobile commerce solution or simply for your website ecommerce design is therefore essential; a good logo will assist your business in creating a clean and professional look; helping you stand out from the competition and aiding you increase your sales. Many steps must be considered and analysed when creating a logo. A Logo must encompass your company and what it stands for and refine it to a simple singular image.

Essentially creating brand awareness will help you create a positive association with the products or services you are trying to promote. If your customers remember the brand itself then other information can naturally be associated with it in the costumer's conscious and subconscious mind. This will help encourage brand association which will help you create better and more loyal customer. Ensure the synchronicity between your ecommerce solution, mobile commerce solution, ecommerce design and your brand and you will guarantee your chances of success.

Starting Your Online Business? - Tutorial 2 – Software To Include In Your Business Plan

Many new businesses go into their online ecommerce solution without creating a business plan, this is a major mistake and it is recommended that a business plan is formed before the business goes to the next step. Business plans are much more than a tedious task of getting your numbers and forecast in order to please the bank, they provide a vital insight of where you see your business progressing too. They will also bring up issues that perhaps the business has not thought about such as ecommerce software. These business plans are a critical first step, as well as an ongoing process for your ecommerce solution to succeed.

Most new businesses do not require a huge business plan such as 40-50 page document which some authorities advise, your new business requires the basics. An outline of these basics can be located at your local bank. Once you have these basics in your business plan you can always add sections later as your ecommerce solution becomes more advanced.

An online business requires certain equipment and software for operating a successful ecommerce solution. First of all your office requires the basics for active use of your ecommerce software and business. These are:

• A computer, latest equipment has hardware which should at least include 500GB Hard Drive, 2GB Memory, iCore Duo Processor and Wireless Access
• Current Browser and eMail Software
• eCommerce Software
• Web Hosting with SSL Certificate
• Merchant Account
• Printer, Scanner, Fax – All in one Product
• Graphics Software
• Book Keeping Software
• FTP Software
• Google Account – Analytics, Adwords and Webmaster Tools

All of this equipment is a necessity for a successful ecommerce solution, include all of these needs into your business plan. There is funding available for business start-ups, especially for equipment, your local business support officer will have more information on the various funding options. Having up-to-date equipment is a business essential so by adding in the depreciation of the equipment into your business plan ensures your assets are covered.

Your online business must complete a business plan as this will be a guide of where your ecommerce solution will progress too in the short-term, and be amended to fit into the businesses long-term strategy.

Importance of PPC Landing Page for your eCommerce Solution

When creating a Pay per Click (PPC) campaign for your ecommerce solution, it is essential to maintain a correlation between searcher's keyword, the paid search ad text and the landing page.

When a website is ready a PPC campaign is usually the next step to reaching your customers, this is due to an instant response which brings your audience to your door, and raises instant awareness of your product or service. Done correctly this can be extremely rewarding therefore ensuring all your keywords are all relevant to what it is you are selling is of vital importance.

You must be precise and concise with all your keywords leading to your ad descriptions, ensuring a synchronicity between your ads and your website, ensuring all landing pages are appealing, informative and easy to navigate around, this must also correspond with your checkout, making it easy to buy from your site, as if customers can't find your checkout they will not complete the sale rendering your campaign useless.

For a successful PPC campaign you should ensure that your ads all have different landing pages, with each being relevant to the good and services you are offering. To ensure your ecommerce solution is reaching maximum potential you should encourage the customer clicking on the ad to take action, convincing them to do what you want. This can be achieved by ensuring your landing page is easy to navigate and forgiving if the customer makes a mistake.

Landing pages must be prepared with a meticulous idea and goal in mind, the best landing pages are sharp, colourful and present the information in a well written and precise manner, all spelling and punctuation must be correct and above all it must have a call to action that encourages customers to go ahead and buy. One must remember that with a PPC campaign every click costs money and therefore to ensure maximum returns it must be cost effective, relevant and a perfect fit to your ecommerce solution.

Landing pages should never be underestimated when trying to attract visitors or returning customers, they must always convey a sense of professionalism and credibility. If visitors are impressed and feel comfortable then you will most definitely reap the rewards of sales and returning customers.

A PPC campaign should not cost a lot, but should fit nicely as part of your ecommerce solution, aiding growth and retention and providing you with a sound cost effective way of advertising.

How To Ensure Effective Creative Writing For Your PPC Campaign Aids The Success Of Your Ecommerce Solution

When choosing an effective ecommerce solution, it is inevitable that one must decide what it is they would like to gain from the solution they desire. Whether this boils down to improving your eBay store or your ecommerce design we can most definitely conclude that ample research and time has been taken choosing the correct platform that best suits your needs and requirements.

When looking into PPC advertising, one must always understand the critical gravity of how important a creative need be, that little four line of text that is the ad carries a huge job and significance to what you want to express about your product and your organisation and you don't have much time to do so. Therefore when catering for a mass audience the "call to action" needs to reflect your product or service perfectly, the power of your creative relies on the strength of your product and service, creating a synchronisation that fits perfectly and allowing your creative to attract the audience and the product or service to close the deal, working together in perfect harmony. Very much in the manner of a perfect ecommerce solution, the ecommerce design or eBay store must fit with the content and add to it visually ensuring maximum potential is engaged when taking it in as a whole.

With creative's a clear cut understanding of the market you are targeting with regards to demographic and psycho-graphics is essential, what is it you would like to convey to the audience? What is it that you want them to know? And more importantly what is it that they are looking for? How will it benefit them? And why should they choose your product or service above your competitions? With all your research done and a clear plan of action created you can now turn your attention to your creative's, ensuring a synchronicity between your brand and you're creative is a good place to start. Slogans tend to be short and snappy, with the added bonus of reaching the subconscious of the audience by conveying what it is your product or service does in one line, allowing you a solid foundation to build upon when creating your PPC creative. Understanding that a searcher is typing in keywords that are significant to your product is the next step, your creative's must reflect what the searcher is typing, therefore a number of different creative's created for specific keywords is essential as it allows you more room to express what it is you want to say about your product or service and gives you more options. Creating specific, direct and catchy creative's will give the searcher every reason to stop and take note of your message, so long as it stands out from the crowd and doesn't look to generic.

To make use of PPC as an effective and sustainable part of your ecommerce solution creative's must be done carefully and tested to ensure which ones are working best at conveying your message to your audience, one must not forget that similarly to ensuring your ecommerce design or eBay store is perfect from an image point of view at creating a specific visual backdrops to presenting your products and services, a creative does very much the same thing but must push that idea forward with a few lines of writing, done correctly and the dividends can be huge, done incorrectly however this could end up costing you a lot of money for nothing so ensure maximum potential is reached by excelling at understanding what key points you need to check before jumping into things unprepared.

The Importance of Effective Keyword Selection In A Pay Per Click ( PPC) Campaign

When choosing Pay per Click (PPC) as an effective advertising solution, in order to help generate traffic to your ecommerce solution, many decisions must be made and understood before taking the step towards creating and running your PPC campaign. Whether your solution is created to generate more brand awareness, sales or simply to attract more traffic to your site or eBay store we must conclude that ample time and effort have been spent ensuring your ecommerce design or eBay design are of a high standard and warrant the investment of PPC campaign.

PPC or Pay Per Click is an advertising solution whereby advertisers only pay whenever a searcher clicks on an ad that takes them directly to their site. The benefits of a PPC campaign are many, giving you instant traffic and potentially profitable clients, it is also cheaper than conventional forms of advertising in that you don't have to pay any fixed costs to place your advert and have it running.

It is essential to understand the importance of good keyword research and writing, as keywords are the words typed by searchers when they are looking for relevant websites, eBay store that hold the products or services that they are looking for, into search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

These keywords direct the searcher to your ad which then gives them the option to click on it, directing them to your site. One must understand that PPC is the most profitable solution for finding targeted audience that you can buy for your website, making it an essential option for a successful ecommerce solution package. Essentially advertisers bid on keywords which best describe their website, product or service, and their ads will appear when searchers type in said keywords into search, with the highest bid for said keywords ad appearing first, typically keywords that are searched for more frequently will tend to have a higher bid price as they are more in demand.

With this in mind in very much the same way that your ecommerce or eBay design reflects exactly what you want to say about your site. Your keywords need the same individuality. In order to compete well against competitors, it is usually a good idea to try and find keywords that are unique to your brand or product and that haven't yet been bid on by others, as this will allow you to keep costs down and allow for a more targeted campaign build around specific dimensions of your need and wants.

Good keyword selection will give more relevancy to your PPC campaign and allow for better overall results with regards to your quality score, with the right keywords this will allow for a steady and affordable solution for your website advertising, that will synch perfec

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The Benefits Of Using A Professionally Built eBay Store Design

For many looking to take the next step on eBay by setting up a professional eBay Store, a number of questions may have arisen that you would like clarified. For instance, why bother having one? How will it improve your overall usability? And is it relevant to my eBay activity? What are the benefits of having a professional eBay store? And which platform should I choose?

First an eBay store is very much like owning your very own ecommerce site whereby you offer all your products and services in one handy location, which may or may not be auctioning on eBay. The Store is provided with a unique URL, and all personable information from logos to outlines of your business ethics and policies are at hand, as well as allowing you the opportunity to create your very own eBay templates or eBay store design which aids in letting everyone know that you are a professional business from the moment they visit the store or find a listing.

This aids you by instilling confidence and trust and allows you to generate more sales just by opening doors to those buyers that would generally feel uncertain about buying on eBay. It also allows and encourages repeat business through brand recognition, through great customer service, a happy customer is a customer that will return, this permits you to build a following and encourage others to visit your eBay store.

Increasing your opportunity of success with an eBay template or an eBay store design will only ever help your cause, this is simply due to the fact that the first impression visitors get of your store is usually a lasting one, therefore it is vitally important to ensure that your eBay store reflects and says what you want it to say about you as a brand, setting from the outset a president that incorporate professionalism, trust and value. One must remember that there are many sellers on eBay and therefore a unique design and image is imperative as it helps stand out from competitors. For many customers trust plays a fundamental part in the buying experience therefore making sure your store has all the fundamentals of a trustworthy professional store is essential and a fantastic eBay template or eBay store design will only ever help aid that process.

Many an eBay Store suffer from the same fatal error, a lack of design, care and attention which leads them to reverting back to the eBay template designs offered that are generic, look inexpensive and could end up having a negative effect on searchers. By creating a brand identity through your very own eBay template or eBay store design that is both distinctive and trustworthy you are not only putting your business in positive light, but you are creating an experience whereby visitors are encouraged to develop an interest, return and buy from your eBay store.

Starting Your Online Business? - Tutorial 1 - The Business Idea

Beginning your online business can be one of the most rewarding and difficult tasks that your business will encounter. The first step is to come up with the idea, without a good idea, a good product or service, good content and good support anything else that your business does will be surplus to requirements. Producing ecommerce solutions for your business will only be successful if the concept is commercially feasible.

If you already have a business offline, a traditional product or service business then this is a logical place to start. This may seem obvious but many businesses that launch their websites only view the internet as another place to advertise, the internet can be a whole lot more. These businesses do not utilize ecommerce solutions and only look at producing what is known as a ‘brochure website’. They simply replicate their print promotions and brochures and do not use other tools that are available to promote their business online through their website. These websites are not completely ineffective as the business may not be selling products and will just need a presence on the internet for making contact; these could include traditional trades, such as electricians and plumbers.

The online market has become the busiest market in the world, however by having a website should be a whole lot more than just replicating existing advertising. Your online business should take advantage of all the networking force of the internet including ecommerce software and a Facebook store. Your website should be a showcase of your business, for people to obtain information and buy products. In the current market more people search for company information online rather than traditional methods so by having your companies details presented to your current clients, potential clients and the international market, your company will gain a higher profile.

If you are starting from scratch and do not have an existing business you should look for ideas where you already have experience and expertise. If your experience does not seem to connect to a new online business opportunity, your next step should be to research a successful online business sector. Once you are aware of how ecommerce solutions can be utilized, look for ways to create these solutions in a better way or look for a niche that has not been fully utilized. There are always ways to improve upon existing services and products online, so by having the insight will provide you with the best opportunity to produce better ecommerce solutions.

Your research should be carried out into sectors you have a real passion for as this will be ongoing research and will take time, so by having a sector that interests you will make it easier and more interesting. Many ecommerce software solutions started with serious research into trends, markets and audience so make sure that your research is extensive so that every area is covered.

There is a real focus on social networking in the current market so by having ecommerce solutions that provides networking capabilities is now a must for any online business sector. An eBay store and Facebook store can be good medium in which to start selling your products as both lend kindly to networking and getting your product seen by the public. By finding which products and markets are selling well, utilize social networks. Find out what your competition is doing and what your friends are buying, this will give you a starting point for an online business that has the opportunity to become successful.

The Importance of Mobile commerce and its Shopping cart software

Mobile commerce has recently emerged allowing for a completely new and innovative method to selling. Targeting and allowing consumers to place orders and transactions via WAP, this has opened the door to a whole new generation of buyer.

With the emergence of 3G technology, it is now easier than ever to purchase goods and services via mobile phones. Reserving concert tickets, booking flights or even the purchasing merchandise through your mobile phone are all now a reality of progress. Organisations must rethink their methods of consumer targeting due to social movements and a change in buyer mentality, this change in focus has resulted in an altering of thinking at many organisations, as they realise the importance of staying ahead of competition. Shopping cart software is now readily available and is considered a mainstay in every ecommerce orientated organisational structure. Offering customers an opportunity to add goods to their ecommerce cart instantly and purchasing it directly through the site.

Businesses adhere to two common shopping cart software categories. Licensed Software which is downloaded and installed directly on a web server, meaning the vendor owns the license, allows merchants to host it on any web server that meets requirements, and Hosted service which is never downloaded but supplied by a hosted service provider and paid for on a monthly or annual basis.

Conducting business through hand-held devices is rapidly increasing in popularity due to its wide potential reach and the increase in smart phones allowing for a huge marketing pool that is still very much in its youth. An ecommerce cart that is effective, allowing consumers to purchase directly on their phones has the potential to open up a company's opportunities tenfold. Characteristics such as ubiquity, distribution and flexibility promise excellent marketing potential to any organisation willing to go down that route, opening lucrative new markets for business.

The ease of being able to transact anywhere, at anytime even though promising and attractive, can sometimes be offset by unsatisfying customer experiences, therefore it is essential that organisations ensure their mobile commerce stores are equipped, and enjoy the same values adhered to on their sites. Effective manageable and integrated shopping cart software is as important to an m-commerce store as it is on its counterpart ecommerce site.

Therefore within the realm of m-commerce development, organisations must ensure they don't rush into the market without a plan for managing the mobile customer experience, an effective m-commerce site must equal its ecommerce counterpart, by providing the same customer experience and ecommerce cart or risk losing more business than they gain.