Archive for the ‘Web Design’ Category

Jul

10 Must Dos BEFORE Building an eStore

Posted by: Judith in Marketing, Musings | Blog, Online Business, Online Business, Web Design

So you’ve decided to open an eStore. Maybe you already have a static HTML site that has been out there and you want to add eCommerce or you have a nifty idea you think you can turn into a profitable online endeavor. Congratulations! Now, don’t make the mistake of not having the basics prepared and planned for before you get a developer or consultant involved or sign up for an eStore or Shopping Cart application.

Some of these issues may seem like common sense, but the truth be told, I get inquiries every single day from those contemplating a new eStore venture who when I ask about these issues, the silence on the other end of the phone is deafening.

Make sure your product or service is über niche. Sites selling bunches of unrelated items or products that are not topically related in some way will be all the much harder to market online. Putting up a “me too” site where the online market has been saturated is a waste of your time and money unless you have a different angle or idea. The best ideas are born from hobbies, interests and passions where the eStore owner saw an opportunity because no one else was catering to that specific niche. Don’t underestimate the power of niche!
Research your competition. Do a search at your favorite search engine for a handful of 2-3 word keyword phrases you believe your target market will use to find your new eStore. Then make note of the hundreds of thousands or millions of pages already online doing the same. Either get “nichier” to try and minimize your competition or plan on being a rabidly aggressive marketer which will cost you both in $$ and time. Look at what your competitors are already doing successfully and how you can integrate those concepts in a unique or different way.
Create your shipping program. What carriers will you offer? Will you be shipping based on weight and location or will flat rate work for you? What about a handling fee? Shipping should not be a profit center and needs to be reasonable. The perception of overly high shipping fees in one of the top reasons customers abandon their shopping carts. Will you be shipping globally? You will then need to know what customs paperwork and policies will need to be considered.
Create your return policy. This needs to be clear, detailed and practical so that if you do experience returns, your customers can easily find what you need them to do and what your criteria are for a return to be accepted.
Create your privacy policy. You must have a policy visibly posted that states what you do with your customer’s information so that you can build trust. Never put one thing in this policy and then do another. Be honest, up front and state exactly how you will manage, distribute and use customer information.
Create your security policy. Your security policy should explain what you do, in detail, to protect your customer’s payment information. Are you on secure servers? Do you use SSL? Are you verified by a third party verification service? The more information you can provide the better to give your customers that warm fuzzy they need to trust you.
Product photos. When it comes to selling online, visuals will make or break you. Ensure all your products have quality photos. If you do not have experience taking product photos for the Web — they won’t be good enough. Check with your suppliers to see if they have photos you can use or hire someone who can guarantee top image quality.
Product descriptions. One line generic descriptions won’t cut it. You need details, sizes, colors, dimensions along with some good marketing verbiage that makes the potential customer realize they need, want, must have that item(s). Will you be entering your products yourself? If not, you need to plan on paying someone to create an uploadable spreadsheet or do your data entry for you. Your products won’t get entered by osmosis.
Marketing plan and budget. You need to have a plan and budget both in time and $$s to market your new eStore. Search engines have a trust box waiting period of 9 months or more before they will even look your way. What are you going to do in that time frame to get your site “out there?” There is no “build it and they will come” online — you’ll be lucky if you ever get found with that approach. Pay Per Click campaigns can run from a few hundred to thousands of dollars a month depending on how competitive your market is and will require massive time for you to test, tune and run effective campaigns. Don’t want to deal with PPC campaigns? Then plan on spending tons of time networking on and off-line. Without either your new eStore will remain a spec of sand in the desert.
Customer Service plan of action. You need to look at your schedule and plan for the printing, processing and packing of orders. This in of itself can be very time consuming when done properly. You’ll need to spend time answering customer e-mail inquiries, updating order status, entering shipping details and ETAs so you can send customers that much desired shipping confirmation. How will you handle phone inquiries? Will you accept orders by fax? Do you have a merchant account to accept credit cards? What forms of payment will you accept? Visa, MasterCard, Check, Wire Transfer, Money Orders? How about PayPal? Do you have a payment gateway to verify, approve and process charges real-time?

I could go on…these are the core basics you have to plan for before you move forward. You’ve heard the saying “fail to plan; plan to fail.” Do yourself a big favor and do not proceed until you have the above issues all nailed down and ready to integrate.

At your service,
Judith

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Jun

Are You an Interactive Technophobe?

Posted by: Judith in Blogs & Blogging, Marketing, Musings | Blog, Online Business, SEO | SEM, Web Design

in·ter·ac·tive [in-ter-ak-tiv]
–adjective

acting one upon or with the other.

of or pertaining to a two-way system of electronic communications, as by means of television or computer.

(of a computer program or system) interacting with a human user, often in a conversational way, to obtain data or commands and to give immediate results or updated information.

Every day I have to remind clients that this “online thing” is interactive. Many have a hard time understanding that they need to be involved — how much they need to be involved. That their level of involvement — of interactivity — will determine their level of success.

I really have never known where the “built it and they will come” mentality came from when it comes to online business. That may have held some weight back in the day, but now, you’re lucky if you get found. And, when you get found (because you’ve embraced all that interactive stuff I “preach” about), you had better be the epitome of credibility, professionalism and customer service.

There are still those who want static HTML sites — those folks tend to be technophobic. The thought of having to be interactive scares them to death. All the posting, article writing, social media recommendations, RSS and the like sends them running — “that’s just too much to learn!” Well folks, I can honestly say that I learn something new each and every day around here. If you don’t want to learn; you probably should question why you have a Web site.

And, if all that learning doesn’t scare them to the point of inaction — it sounds like too much work. Either way, my advice to those who don’t want to learn or spend the time interacting, is to simply not bother. They’ll be throwing their hard earned dollars away on a site that won’t get found and won’t produce.

Many of my clients have discussed with me their insecurity in regard to the perceived skills and knowledge required to proceed in today’s environment. Then, combined with an overall intimidation with technology — that’s the reason why they don’t embrace what they hear, read and see is happening around them.

The ironic thing is, with applications like WordPress, Wiki and others, being involved and interactive actually has never been easier. If you can type, you can Blog, go social, interact and discuss your experience and knowledge to the benefit of your business. And you just might be surprised on how much fun you actually end up having!

Unfortunately, I fear those who hold back instead of bolding going forward and facing the challenges that online participation demands of each of us, as of today at this point in time, will see that reflected in their bottom line — and not in a good way.

Know that with the right partners, you can be coached through any frustrations, concerns and unknowns or whatever you perceive is preventing you from joining the social revolution.

“Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It’s too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came
and she pushed
and they flew…”

-Christopher Logue

At your service,
Judith

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Jun

What Should a Web Site Cost?

Posted by: Judith in Web Design

To that question I answer “whatever it takes to succeed!” I understand clients have budgets and that they are cost sensitive — I get it. But most, in my experience, have unrealistic expectations of what a quality, effective and successful online business program costs (and they have their priorities about what should be spent where mixed up) both in dollars and time.

If you are investigating Web site developers or WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) applications, the costs are all over the board. From next to nothing to a bunch of zeros. This certainly doesn’t help those investigating Web site costs understand what is involved and what the costs may be, and why, for their particular project.

I explain why this happens in my article: Average Web Site Costs where I detail how each site is unique based on goals, market competitiveness, functionality, size, etc.

This is why business owners need to get educated about the variables available to them so they can make wise decisions. Web sites are serious business in today’s environment and while there are less expensive avenues you can investigate, you still have to be prepared to make an investment equal to your stated goals if you are serious about online success. If you want to cut costs on development; then you need to be prepared to learn what you don’t want to pay a pro to do.

It’s true, with the availability of professionally created site design templates and CMS applications like WordPress, site owners can save on the front end development costs as well as the deployment time involved to launch. But you still have to spend and learn — no way around that.

While templates are a great option for those on a budget, if you don’t know code you’ll have to pay a consultant or developer to customize the template for you. And even as easy as WordPress is for those who do not “know code”, you still will have to learn how to use WordPress properly. Then comes the marketing — marketing will cost additional time and dollars.

Many start investigating their new Web site with the opinion that it should cost very little and not require much of a learning curve. Then the site launches and just works. These perceptions are simply wrong.

If you insist on shopping for a Web site based on price alone, you may find you’re off-line in no time due to lack of results. Now that’s one way to save money!

At your service,
Judith

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