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Ecommerce Information |
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Getting Started in ECommerce - Part Two
In Part One we talked a little bit about what Ecommerce is, getting a domain name and setting up a merchant account. Ecommerce is more than that, much more. To have a really good online presence that gets people to stop and shop you need a strategy for success. Your strategy must include your USP or Unique Selling Position in the marketplace. What makes you stand out from all the other online entrepreneurs looking for the same type of customers as you? Can you stand out from the competition based on quality, price or benefits? Once you know your USP, you can begin the monumental task of telling the world about your site. A really unique selling position will give you an advantage over all the competition - well that and a lot of planning and investing of your time and money. FOCUS Emphasize the benefits and the results the customer will get from purchasing from you and using your product or service. You can discover the benefits by listing all the features and then converting them to benefits. List everything your product or service offers. For each feature list a relative advantage from the customer's perspective. You can discover the customer's perspectives when they buy. Simply ask them, " Why did you place an order today or use our service?" BE very specific when creating your benefit statements. An example of this is, "You will save $100.00 sells better than "you will save money." "You will loose 20 pounds in 10 days" sounds better than "you will loose weight." Rank your benefits in order of importance to the customer. If you have enough of them, use bullet points for emphasis. Emotion sells. People make most buying decisions with their heart and not their head. Paint a picture of the results the customer will get when they purchase from you. " You will look 20 years younger." "You will be $100 richer." Make sure you include a call to action. Want them to make a buying decision today? Give them a reason to do so. Offer a bribe (discount, bonus, something for nothing). Your website must load quickly and function easily. If your site loads slowly people will get impatient and go elsewhere. Do all your links work? Have you tested your order page by running sample orders? Have you tested load time using different connection speeds? You can get a fr*ee analysis by visiting Submitplus.com. Make your website easy to look at and read. I find dark background tend to be more difficult to read than do pale backgrounds. The overall look of your site should be clean and professional. When we were first creating the Women's ECommerce Association, International we did everything in-house. Not being truly adept at HTML coding we thought we could just use a simple program to create a professional site. It was okay, but the one we now have is so much better. Why? Because we hired a professional. You can create a website with a good template program. We are using ECommerce Templates to create our new look for WUN Publications. It is simple to use and relatively inexpensive. When it comes to graphics, be conservative. Sites that are laden with graphics and flash tend to take longer to load. If your site takes more than 3 seconds to do so, you will loose many visitors and potential buyers. If you must use graphics, make sure the files sizes used have been reduced as much as your image editing/compression software will allow. View your site using as many different browsers as possible. In addition to Internet Explorer and Netscape, there is Opera, Mozilla, Lynx and those are just the ones that run on Microsoft Windows. WebMonkey has a chart of those supported by Macintosh, Unix/Linux and others. Also, many people will surf with their browser's graphics switched off. Make sure you know what your site looks like without the graphics and that it is still easy for visitors to surf. One last thought Make sure all your important information is above the fold. If you know that visitors are looking for something specific and you make them scroll down to find it, chances are they won't. Excerpted from The PMS Principles - Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business © 2005 - Heidi Richards Heidi Richards is the author of The PMS Principles, Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business and 7 other books. She is the owner of Eden Florist & Gift Baskets and the Founder & CEO of the Women's ECommerce Association, International http://www.WECAI.org (pronounced wee-kī) - an Internet organization that "Helps Women Do Business on the WEB." BASIC Membership is Free. She can be reached at http://www.HeidiRichards.com or heidi@wecai.org. You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.
MORE RESOURCES: Better âWelcomeâ Emails for Ecommerce Practical Ecommerce Shopify Stock (SHOP) Drops as BofA Raises Alarm on Trumpâs Tariff Risks for E-Commerce Vendors TipRanks E-commerce alcohol sales to hit US$36bn by 2028 The Drinks Business Digital Silk Unpacks How Los Angeles eCommerce Brands Are Balancing Aesthetic and Performance in Web Design markets.businessinsider.com Latest B2B Ecommerce news, research and case studies Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Deep Dive: UAE eMarketer New Ecommerce Tools: April 3, 2025 Practical Ecommerce Nockta and The Custom Chef Launch Modern eCommerce Platform Showcasing Culinary Craftsmanship markets.businessinsider.com E-commerce boom turns into a data management crisis Emerging Europe Executive Order on De Minimis Disrupts U.S. Supply Chains, but Advances Fairer E-Commerce, Says ITIF Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) Digital Silk Unpacks How Los Angeles eCommerce Brands Are Balancing Aesthetic and Performance in Web Design TradingView Ecommerce earnings recap: What you missed from Chewy, GameStop and more Digital Commerce 360 Asia-Pacific Ecommerce 2025 eMarketer Perplexity adds an agentic commerce partner for its push into ecommerce Digital Commerce 360 How Chinaâs State-Backed E-Commerce Platforms Threaten American Consumers and U.S. Technology Leadership Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) Retail Sales Show Dining Out Declines and eCommerce Gains Ground as Consumers Pull Back - PYMNTS.com GoodRx Launches E-commerce Experience for Retail Pharmacies HIT Consultant Revolutionary AI Creates Virtual Human Models for Amazon Sellers, Slashing Photo Costs - Stock Titan Scaling Omnichannel Fulfillment to Meet Demand Inbound Logistics 5 Trends Influencing the Future of Ecommerce Entrepreneur H-E-B opens eCommerce fulfillment center in Houston H-E-B Newsroom Air cargo braces for impact as US restores duties on Chinese e-commerce Journal of Commerce Kroger goes all in on ecommerce Supermarket News E-commerce volumes face up to 'seismic shock' Freightweek TikTok insiders say Chinese leadership is cracking down on its US e-commerce team after missing goals Business Insider Shoplazza Launches Upgraded Payment Solution to Boost Global E-Commerce Conversion Rates PR Newswire Latest News In E-Commerce - Navigating Growth Opportunities In The Evolving Digital Marketplace simplywall.st New Look targets ÂŁ1bn ecommerce demand by 2030 InternetRetailing US ecommerce penetration nearly a quarter of all Q4 retail sales Digital Commerce 360 Topic: E-commerce worldwide Statista The 8 best ecommerce platforms of 2025 TechRadar 79+ Brand New E-Commerce Statistics for 2025 Exploding Topics What new data shows about where American ecommerce is going in 2025 Digital Commerce 360 US ecommerce sales in 2024 more than double those of 2019 Digital Commerce 360 Unicorns Podcast: Inside Blend AI, the startup using AI to supercharge e-commerce growth - Stockhead Rezolve AI Taps $5.5 Trillion Ecommerce Market With In-Store Style Shopping Experience, Analyst Says Benzinga 72 million Europeans gain access to TikTok Shop Ecommerce News - Europe Top 13 Ecommerce Trends (2024 & 2025) Exploding Topics Retail, E-Commerce Merchants Lose $4 for Every $1 in Fraud: Report E-Commerce Times Completing a Masters in eCommerce in DCU gave me the tools to learn and grow in an ever changing and fast evolving industry. But what are the key focuses for 2025? DCU Business School How to Do Market Research For Ecommerce in 2024 Exploding Topics Amazonâs surprise bid for TikTok is far from a sure deal, because TikTok is far from just a social media app Sherwood News Nextechâs Advances Its AI First Initiative With Launch of Ecommerce AI Studio Showcasing âHumansâ in Lifestyle AI Product Photography ACCESS Newswire Insights into the Mexican E-Commerce Competition Landscape CSIS | Center for Strategic and International Studies |
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