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Online Business

Want to Learn About Ecommerce? Bookmark These 7 Sites

want-to-learn-about-ecommerce-bookmark-these-7-sites

If you are new to the world of ecommerce, you’ll soon find that there are many moving pieces to figure out. Beyond important facets like cybersecurity, design, SEO, product pricing and marketing, is still the task of how to host your platform. So whether you are starting your own enterprise ecommerce operation or just want to stay abreast on ecommerce industry trends, check out these seven authority leaders.

The next time you have a question or want to see the latest ecommerce developments, open up your trusty bookmarks and consume the knowledge.

Internet Retailer

Internet Retailer collects updated news and statistics from global ecommerce markets and presents it in an easy-to-read format. You can learn more about marketing trends, such as how 58 percent of the top online retailers send new customers a welcome email. The website offers strategies for online retailers, both new and established, and has regular webinars. Information is published daily, so you will want to check this site out often.

National Retail Federation

The National Retail Federation is the largest retail trade association in the world, offering representation to retailers in the United States and 45 other companies. The organization provides ways for retailers with different expertise to connect and share ideas with one another. You can view retail trends and data on the website, attend professional conferences and take part in educational activities.

Practical Ecommerce

If you are looking for practical advice on how to make your online store succeed, turn to Practical Ecommerce. You will learn about the best ecommerce marketing strategies, how to incorporate SEO keywords to draw in customers, how to take advantage of the many social media websites, and so much more in an easy-to-read format.

Get Elastic

Get Elastic is more than just a catchy name. The site offers information on topics such as digital marketing, integrating mobile apps in your online store and web design. You can subscribe to receive new posts straight into your inbox and find all the latest tips and tricks for creating a successful ecommerce business.

Global Ecommerce Leaders Forum

Global ecommerce is growing and you will want to become a part of this market. Global ecommerce Leaders Forum is the website to visit when you want to learn more about the issues facing retailers in a global world. You can participate in the yearly summit, join the online community and stay updated on the latest trends.

Ecommerce Times

Ecommerce times places much of its focus on the technology side of ecommerce and is a great resource to learn more about this area. The site offers tips on how to conduct your business online, with information for anyone from small business owners to managers. Topics can range from mobile, security, enterprise IT, cyberwar issues and more.

Ecommerce Fuel

Ecommerce Fuel is a private community geared to established business owners who achieved a certain level of success, so you may need to wait before you can sign up to receive full access. In the meantime, the website offers weekly blog updates and podcasts on the latest ecommerce news that is useful to anyone looking to learn more about the industry.

The best ecommerce business owners stay updated on the latest information in their industry. To stay on top of things, be sure to visitthese websites on a regular basis. Once you begin to feel confident in the industry, you should be ready to open your online store.

 

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Online Business

How To Turn Your Small Business Website Into A Killer Marketing Tool

website-deesign

Optimize Your Website

When you are building your small business, you want to take every advantage you can to attract new as well as retain loyal repeat customers. In fact, your website can be the hub for your brand to connect and funnel all of your advertising and marketing efforts together. This makes it necessary to optimize your website to attract and retain interest in your business.

Extension of the Brand

Your website is the extension of your brand and what all of your social media, advertising, and directory listings should link to or land on. People will develop their impression of your business within seconds of landing on your website. With one chance to make a great impression, your website needs to get its image and usability right. Here are some things that your website needs to be a value-added public image of your company.

Good Design

The goal of your website should be to first attract and then truly appeal to your potential customers. Good design takes extensive planning. Figuring out who your target audience is before you start your website design is essential. The website design process can in fact be a way for a new business venture to delve into defining marketing issues such as the company’s tone, personality, and mission.

The design elements you choose to define your brand on your website can be followed through on your logo, packaging, and additional advertising. Your social media sites that are linked to your business website can share the same design features.

A Brand Experience

Prospective customers are having an experience with your brand for the first time when they visit your website, so small business websites need to be well-designed to visually evoke the outlook and values of the company. Your website design will give them an idea of what it would be like to interact with your business face-to-face, so you want them to have a positive first experience. A professional image on the internet begins with professional design skills.

Design Tips

The visual appeal of your website should be strong, but that does not mean something that will overpower your audience. Your relevant visuals should not be overloaded with unnecessary animation or action buttons. Consistency in format is key. An engaging website can be sleek and modern and yet simple. A strategic use of distinctive font styles and color that works well with your image adds a touch of detail.

Powerful images that communicate quickly and memorably are best supported by relevant website content. Your design can be top drawer, but if you do not have appropriate page content such as the email address missing from your contact page or click buttons that go nowhere, your great design is all for naught.

Visiting the website of a business is fast becoming part of the shopping process for most people. Great visuals combined with relevant and direct content in the appropriate places will set a positive tone for your company’s image. Even the simplest of designs, if well done, can clearly showcase your products or services and grow interest in your business.

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Online Business

6 Things about E-Commerce That Brands Need to Know

ecommerce-things

Article Contributed by Kunjal Panchal

So your brand name is huge and you sell some of the coolest stuff online? That may not be enough to run an e-commerce store successfully.

Modern consumers are increasingly tech savvy and want to have the best online shopping experience every time they visit your website. Further, they also expect brands to provide them with exceptional customer service before, during and after they make a purchase.

This sounds familiar and almost every brand promises to fulfill every customer demand, but actually doing so is easier said than done. Regardless of how big or small your brand is, your e-commerce store needs to cater to specific needs of online customers.

This post highlights a few factors that brands need to be mindful of when selling through their e-store.

  1. Interesting and Engaging Website Content

We live in times when a visually-appealing website with high-quality products to sell is the norm, which is why it is important to exceed these expectations. This is the most effective way to stand out from the crowd, especially when the Internet is inundated with e-stores from every brand. Providing your customers with valuable and engaging content can help you do so.

An increasing number of businesses are employing content to capture new audiences as this has proven to be an effective way to not only get them to engage with the brand, but also strike an emotional connect and earn their trust.

There is a difference between content and good content, and you want to strive for the latter. Good content is fresh, unique, informative, and even inspirational and insightful. It will help you acquire new customers and retain them in the long term. It can be presented in various formats such as blogs, press release, white papers, social media posts, infographics, videos, podcasts, advertisements, and so on. Brand managers will only gain from using different forms of content (in a consistent manner) to tell their brand’s story.

  1. Responsive Design

Not convinced about why your e-commerce website needs to have a responsive design? Here are a few statistics that may change your mind:

  • Between December 2013 and December 2015, tablet Internet consumption grew by 30%.
  • Between December 2013 and December 2015, smartphone Internet consumption grew by 78%.
  • Between December 2013 and December 2015, desktop Internet consumption dropped by 1%.
  • Mobile devices now account for nearly 2 of every 3 minutes spent online.
  • 13% of adults access the Internet via mobile only. 11% access the Internet via desktop only.
  • 40% of smartphone and tablet owners search for B2B products on those devices.

A responsive website looks great and performs flawlessly on all devices. Having a responsive design comes with another advantage: your website will rank better in Google search. If you really want to attract more traffic to your site and increase conversions, you need to have a responsive e-commerce website.  

  1. Social Media Readiness

Is your brand social media savvy? Is it sufficiently present and visible on social networks? If not, then you may want to work on changing that. That’s because 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals.

Other studies in the recent past have also indicated that social media does influence shopping decisions. Also, it serves as a great platform that facilitates interaction between brands and customers. People find it easier to trust unbiased advice from their friends/real-life users of a product/service than believe what paid endorsements try to sell.

Recent findings by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) revealed that 22,618 digital buyers aged 18 years and older. Respondents had shopped online at least once in the past year. Nearly half (45%) of digital buyers worldwide said that reading reviews, comments and feedback on social media influenced their digital shopping behavior.

Not being present on social media will only limit your progress. The truth is that social media has become an essential part of e-commerce because it infuses the much-needed collaborative element in the buying-selling process. Underestimate the power of social media at your own peril!

  1. Multiple Payment Options

Modern tech-savvy customers know that they have the ultimate power to decide exactly how they want to pay for their purchased goods/services. In fact, they expect to be given options as per their preferred modes of payment. At the same time, customers also want to choose the payment option based on the merchant. It is, therefore, best to satisfy diverse preferences with multiple payment methods.

Brands need to be open to accepting payments through credits cards, debit cards, PayPal transactions, mobile payments, mobile wallets, Bitcoin payments, direct deposits, and so on.

  1. Faster and Free Shipping

Did you know shipping charges kill conversions? 28% of shoppers will abandon their shopping cart if presented with unexpected shipping costs.

Customers, today, are impatient and want to shop from websites that can deliver their orders as soon as possible. Their buying decision is greatly influenced by whether or not their purchase will be delivered on time. If they find they the delivery will take time, they prefer to head to the brick-and-store and buy their (preferred or similar) product, rather than wait for the item(s) to be shipped.

To mitigate this, many brands have introduced same-day delivery and guaranteed overnight postage (where possible). Amazon is planning to introduce Amazon Prime Air for deliveries in the future. It is believed that this technology will involve autonomously flying individual packages to customers’ doorsteps within 30 minutes of ordering (certain terms and conditions apply).

  1. Flash Sales

This is a growing trend among most progressive e-commerce websites and has more to do with website offerings than features. Customers, especially those that buy impulsively, love great deals and often snap up goods/services, even if they’d never thought of buying them previously at all. The roaring success of trends such as Cyber Monday is testimony to the effectiveness of flash sales.

Conclusion

Having an e-commerce store can open up tremendous opportunities for brands, which is why it is important to know and understand the elements that facilitate the buying process. Earlier, only the big players made used of this online channel to enhance their bottom line, but things have changed today. Small businesses can also capitalize on this channel and make the most of the platform. The above pointers can go a long way in helping brands run their e-store successfully.

Author Bio:

Kunjal Panchal is a Digital Marketer at E2M, the fastest growing digital marketing agency in India. She is a social media geek, a complete foodie and enjoys trying varied cuisines. A perfect day for her consists of reading her favorite author with a hot cuppa coffee.

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Online Business

How A Simple Email Signature Can Get You More Clients

How A Simple Email Signature Can Get You More Clients

An email from you could be the first contact a potential client has with you.

How well does it represent your business?

email_signature

Let me give you an example…

Recently, I received an email from a person I’ve never met before asking me if I’d like to be part of her upcoming virtual event. Although I do get emails like this, this one stood out because:

  • I had no idea who she was.
  • It was sent from her gmail address.
  • There was only her name on the bottom of the email.
  • No business contact information, link to website, or anything.

Therefore, it made it difficult for me to find out more about this person and even if I wanted to be a part of her event.

So let me ask you again … how well does your email signature represent you and your business?

It’s so important that you have an email signature on ALL of the emails that you send out because:

  • Your clients and potential clients know exactly how to get in touch with you.
  • It’s a good marketing tool.
  • You can use it to promote special offers.
  • It can drive traffic to your website.
  • It tells people who you are and what you do.

And whenever you send out emails they should ALWAYS come from your business email account; not a gmail, hotmail, yahoo, or other account … but your business account.

Setting up an email signature is very simple to do, and I will tell you how!

As a general rule of thumb your email signature shouldn’t be more than about six or seven lines long otherwise it just becomes too big and may detract from your email.  After all you don’t want your email signature to be longer than your email!

Your basic email signature should contain:

  • Your name
  • Your company’s name
  • Your telephone, fax number, and email address
  • Your Website URL with an active hyperlink
  • And maybe a line promoting one of your services, a special offer, a link to your newsletter, or anything else that you would want to let your target audience know about.

Set up your email signature so that it AUTOMATICALLY goes out on every single email that you send, whether it’s a new email or you’re replying or forwarding on an email.

Here’s how to set up your email signature …

Outlook

1. Go to Tools > Options > Mail Format > Signature Picker.

2. Click on New and then enter a name for your signature i.e. Business

3. Client on Next and then design your signature in the blank box. You can change the font, font size, and text color

4. Once done click on Finish and preview your signature in the preview window. If necessary, go back and edit it.

5. Once you’re happy with your new signature click on OK.

6. Ensue that the Use this signature by default box has the name of your new signature in it, and click on OK.

7. Congratulations – You’re done!

Outlook Express

1. Go To Tools > Options > Signatures Tab.

2. Tick Add signatures to all outgoing messages.

3. Deselect Don’t add signatures to all ‘Replies and Forwards’.

4. Add your signature in the Edit Signature text box

5. Once you’re happy with your new signature click on OK.

6. Congratulations – You’re done!

Gmail

1. Go To Mail Settings (looks like a cog wheel in the top right corner of your Gmail account).

2. Click on Labs.

3. Search for Signature Tweaks (this places your signature before the quoted text in a reply, and removes the “–” line that appears before signatures).

4. Click on Enable, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.

5. Now go to your General Tab and scroll down until you find Signatures.

6. Select the email address that you want to create a signature for.

7. Create your email signature.

8. Scroll down to the bottom and click on Save Changes.

9. Congratulations – You’re done!

And if you don’t use any of these email clients there are online tools that will do the job for you.

Thanks to a subscriber who shared a resource with me, I am now using WiseStamp to create my email signatures. It works with major email clients too.

Let me know in the comments below what you’re using to create your email signatures.

Categories
Online Business

Effective Steps That Help Online Businessmen Create Profitable Internet Multiple Marketplaces

profitable-internet-market

When we leave our schools and become grown-ups, we understand that we will have to work every day, as we will need financial resources to pay our bills, buy desired products, solve our daily problems, help our families, satisfy our needs and perform other related actions. As you probably know, all people are different, so they can’t accomplish all possible working processes and operations like machines and computer programs can do. In the other words, all of us possess different skills, knowledge, aspirations, talents and dreams, which determine our nature, explain our fears, predicts our actions and even influence on our future. Therefore, to earn money and reach their specific goals, all people aspire to get higher education, find well-paid jobs, make friends with influential people or organize their own business startups. Very often, plenty of people decide to become businessmen, as this technique is an easy way to increase their profits, improve their living conditions and get high popularity. But everything is not as easy as it may seem, as establishing their ventures and companies, entrepreneurs will have to face with financial risks, solve various business issues, hold negotiations and promote their products and services among customer segments. Moreover, being a businessman, you must be in funds and creative, as you will have to compete against thousands of business companies, which want to take their pieces of a financial pie and attract as many clients as possible. In the end, as not all businessmen can boast of having large budgets and solid experience, so they mostly stop their business activities and leave the business environment with time.

So, analyzing facts, which I have mentioned above, you may think that it’s almost impossible to do for a living with assistance of personal business projects and become a rich businessman. Actually, it is not the full truth and there are other ways and methods you can use to achieve your business goals. For example, a large number of entrepreneurs, who don’t have much seed capital, can move their ventures into Internet to build their business careers and earn desired revenues. Such online businessmen possess high chances to make their business dreams come true, as they will join the online business world, where millions of buyers constantly search and order required things. Taking these aspects into consideration, more and more vendors prefer to launch their own web shops to sell their products to customers, as these online business projects allow their owners to serve larger customer segments and avoid unexpected costs. But merchants shouldn’t think that all their business problems and fails will end after launching their online shops. As ordinary businessmen, web store owners will also have to fulfill business obligations, spend money on organizing advertising campaigns, address new issues and provide customers with top-notch products. In such a case, those vendors, who understand that they are unable to invest into their ecommerce projects and implement their business operations on their own anymore, hurry to join online multiple marketplaces. When online businessmen become marketplace sellers, they will only have to pay fees to web marketplace owners for the right to perform their trade operations, while marketplace owners will have to accomplish all development and customization procedures. As for web entrepreneurs, who plan to launch their own web multiple marketplaces, they get all chances to create well-known business brands and increase their profits dramatically. So, if you also possess an internet mall, it doesn’t guarantee that you will become a rich and successful web merchant. Thus, I have decided to write this article, where I describe main methods that can help online businessmen avoid unsatisfactory business results and create profitable internet multiple marketplaces.

Business Partners 

The business environment continues attracting a wide range of different people from different countries, as it can provide them with impressive revenues and high popularity. All potential businessmen know about these aspects and hope to get all they want. In practice, only a small number of vendors can earn much money and become authoritative experts in their business fields, while others fail and lose all to the last cent. Why does it happen in this way? The most common answer is that entrepreneurs don’t get regular profits or spend all their funds on organizing promotional campaigns. This statement can’t be called correct, as almost all traders know how to earn money, where to move and possess their own business plans. In fact, to become a well-known and successful merchant, you will need something more than financial resources – you will have to possess a stainless business reputation.

A business reputation can tell much about a businessman, his goals, his venture and his employees. It is not for nothing that customers research vendors’ reputations before choosing and ordering required products. In most cases, those sellers, who respect their competitors, value their clients’ interests and don’t resort to unfair business practices, have got high chances to occupy leading business positions and make friends with their customer audiences. But you should understand that it is not enough to be an honest businessman to create a large base of return buyers. To gain customers’ loyalty, both brick-and-mortar owners and online vendors may provide them with high-quality products, improve clients’ shopping procedures, promote their personal business brands and work on the visual appearance of their own business projects, what will require much time and money from these businessmen. Trying to save their funds and attract large numbers of shoppers, owners of brick-and-mortars and online stores decide to cooperate with influential and authoritative business companies. This is rather obvious, as clients know that well-known business corporations possess solid experience and will never betray their trust. Talking about web marketplace owners, they also must cooperate with different business partners, if they want to make a name for themselves and outdo their competitors.

Independent Merchants 

Ventures and companies are considered to be not only business projects, which provide their owners with high profits, but also organizations, which have their own statutes and traditions. Business organizations and structures can’t exist without directors and employees, as they know how to solve the most sophisticated problems, work out effective business plans, implement important operations and interact with customers segments. Furthermore, industrious workers can help business owners reach their business goals and promote their business brands much faster. That’s why, when you organize your own business company, you should pay special attention to searching and hiring well-educated managers. Otherwise, you risk to damage your business reputation, fall through all your deals and lose all you have.

Starting their business activities, smart entrepreneurs understand that they will not be able to handle with their business duties and control their business projects without assistance of skilled personnel. But not all vendors can boast of having large budgets to pay salaries to their staff members. In this case, to save their money, most merchants prefer to offer their products to buyers via their own online shops. Such web store owners may forget about problems, connected with personnel, as they are able to manage their ecommerce projects on their own. So, what will you do, if you are a web shopping mall owner? Online multiple marketplace owners can create profitable and successful web business brands only with the help of independent merchants. To cut a long story short, internet mall owners must invite plenty of different vendors, who possess different ranges of products, to their ecommerce websites, as modern customers want to find and buy all desired things in a single place. Moreover, those online marketplace owners, who will be able to attract a large number of independent vendors to their web stores, will get additional revenues, as marketplace sellers will have to pay commissions to them for the right accomplish their business activities. 

Sophisticated Customers 

When a person joins the business environment, he should always remember that his main duty is to serve clients and satisfy their needs and preferences. However, most traders and business owners ignore these facts, as they see only benefits and future profits. I can assure you that customers are likely to leave these unreliable businessmen and forget about them forever, as they don’t like such vendors’ nonchalant attitude to doing business. Sometimes, aspiring to make friends with prospects, merchants can offer all possible products to them, provide clients with various discounts and send free samples of products to them. Usually, even these effective techniques can’t help vendors interest buyers in visiting their stores and malls.

Shopping is an indispensable part of every person’s life, as it allows us to relax and find all things we require. Many vendors can’t stand with these facts and continue resorting to different ineffective business and marketing strategies, what may lead to unsatisfactory business results. Seeing brick-and-mortar owners’ fails, more and more people decide to perform their business and trade operations online. They think that they will be able to avoid standard business problems and create large bases of return customers with assistance of web stores in short terms. But you shouldn’t expect that thousands of shoppers will rush to buy your production right after launching your online store. To find and retain your customer audiences, you must spend you time and money on researching their needs and secret desires. As for online multiple marketplace owners, first of all, they must focus on grabbing and keeping attention of those customers, who possess wider range of needs and requirements, as they are ready to pay and make orders much more often compared to ordinary buyers, who visit online shopping malls to make one-time purchases.

Constant Advertising Campaigns 

Business problems, unfulfilled obligations, financial risks and unfair deals pursue all entrepreneurs and vendors. They destroy vendors’ business activities and spoil their business reputations. So, let’s imagine for a second that you possess impressive funds, solid experience and high skills and deep knowledge in management and marketing fields to solve all your business issues and avoid dreadful business mistakes. Have you noticed that you still occupy one of the last positions in the business world? I am sure that you have already asked yourself hundreds times about what you do wrong. You may say that you constantly pay taxes to your government, provide your clients only with high-quality products and follow rules of fair competition. But what is about your advertisements? Do you organize your own advertising and promotional campaigns?

Currently, all newbie and mature businessmen must use advertising technologies, if they want to make their business dreams com true and stand out of the crowd of competitors. This is rather clear, as establishing their business companies and ventures, vendors have to face with thousands of businessmen, who fight fiercely for every customer and every spare dollar. The same concerns to the online business environment, where web vendors also have to compete against each other, if they want to take a place under the sun. Talking about online mall owners, they think that they don’t need to spend their budgets on creating advertisements and organizing promotional campaigns, as their ecommerce websites are rather noticeable to grab buyers’ attention. In reality, even online marketplace owners must resort to assistance of advertising companies and SEO agencies, as their large web business projects can vanish among other online business brands.

Professional Support Team 

Not all online deals and shopping operations can be called pleasant and successful, as customers may buy faulty products, order wrong things and face with other related problems. When buyers find out that products they have bought don’t meet their requirements, they decide to share their difficulties with those sellers, whose web stores they chose to implement their shopping procedures. As a rule, as online shop owners are unable to accept and solve customers’ complaints on their own, so they mostly hire special people and create support departments. These support teams must possess enough skills and experience not only to answer clients’ most difficult and sophisticated questions, but also provide them with useful advice. But if you are a web shopping mall owner, this will not be enough to provide your clients with smooth customer experience. Frequently, to strengthen their business positions and find a common language with their buyers, online marketplace owners must organize more qualified and larger support teams, as their members will have to interact with wider client audiences and solve more customers’ problems, what will help ecommerce mall owners win loyalty of local and foreign shoppers.

Do you know more effective steps that can help web businessmen create profitable internet multiple marketplaces? Feel free to share your ideas with me in comments below.

Author’s Bio

Nicolas Fincher is a marketing and PR manager working for the CS-Cart ecommerce software company, which offers the comprehensive range of multifunctional shopping cart tools, including CS-Cart and Multi-Vendor software.