E-commerce
A word pervading our society, making headlines around theworld, and causing the stock market to rise and fall withstartling ease.
It seems every business news story centers on sometechnology companys DOT-com or DOT-bomb!
With all the positive and negative hoopla, business ownersof any size company can throw up their hands and feel theE world has left them behind.
Every business owner, salesperson, or professional asked oneof two questions in the past year, either Am I using e-commerce correctly or How do I effectively get involvedin e-commerce
You can buy hundreds of books and pay thousands inconsulting fees to analyze and debate the answer to thefirst question.
To answer to the second question just follow these 12 steps.
Step 1 - Buy a domain name (your own DOT-com). Go towww.NetworkSolutions.com and research names. Can a customereasily spell and remember it
Step 2 - Write down your online goals and prepare a time andmoney budget.
How soon do you want your e-commerce site up and running
How much will you spend
How many hours will you devote to the site and when
Step 3 - Surf the web to find other sites you like anddislike. Learn from others successes and mistakes by takingthe best of what their sites offer and adapting it for yourown use.
Step 4 - Design your site on paper. Define elements, look,feel, colors etc.
Step 5 - Hire a professional to set up the graphics andnavigation, but with the intention of you or your staffmaintaining the sites day to day operations, communicationand updates.
Step 6 - Invest in a digital camera and web publishingsoftware such as Microsoft Front Page or Adobe Acrobat tokeep up with the sites maintenance.
Step 7 - Maintain, change, and update your site at leastonce a month. (The one exception to this rule are those one-page, sales letter websites. Once you have one of those thatperforms well and makes sales, dont change it!!)
Step 8 - Promote your site at every opportunity. Tell peopleabout it. Put your web address on your business cards and inall your ads. Some companies even advertise their webaddress when they put you on hold on the telephone.
Step 9 - Give people a self-serving reason to visit yoursite. Coupon savings, discounts, special incentives, freeinformation, and free newsletters represent excellententicements for attracting visitors to your site.
Step 10 - Concentrate on obtaining an email address fromevery customer and potential customer.
Obtain permission to send periodic, value-added malings toyour database.
Use a list server to organize and maintain your mailinglist.
Step 11 - Always look for and use the simplest solution oroption.
Whether adding a shopping cart, database or other option toyour e-commerce operation, seek out and use the simplestanswer for your needs.
Step 12 - Become educated and stay current in the world ofe-commerce.
Learn the marketing and sales techniques of the onlineworld.
About the Author:
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and theco-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how touse fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targetedvisitors to your website or affiliate links...
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The Internet Contains Billions of Website Pages - All Clamoring for Attention
With so many competing websites, its unlikely that yours could stand out among them. Until recently, you faced near-impossible odds. Search engine results lost the little guys in back pages, where no one ever looked.
But Local Search is changing that in a dramatic way. Small stores and service businesses are gaining additional revenue from being found by locals who went to the Internet before deciding where to buy (70% of buyers, according to research by The Kelsey Group).
Google and Yahoo are pushing hard to make their Local Search results as relevant as possible. (MSN is playing a catch-up game.) Theyre under pressure to work out the bugs, so this rapidly accelerating trend becomes more reliable.
The public wants to find information about products or services with the ease and speed theyve come to expect from search engines. However, when people are ready to spend their money, they prefer to spend it close to home (where 80% of purchases are made). So the only suppliers they care about are those located nearby. A Google query for plumber that delivers 2.3 million pages does them no good at all.
Buyers are Driving the Popularity of Local Search
A person conducts a Local Search when they add a geographic term (like town, region, zip code) to their search engine query. The results (SERPS) only include businesses within that geographic area. For example, entering Seattle + plumber in Google only delivers a list of plumbing firms in Seattle. Those results are also displayed on a city map, so its easy to spot the most convenient ones.
Unfortunately, not all of the plumbers who ought to be included appear in the results. Those businesses that are left out miss out. Its also a drawback for the searcher, when they cant find the information theyre looking for. Unfortunately, too much of what they get isnt relevant to them. The quality of results are sure to improve as more businesses climb aboard.
Relevance indicates how well the information a person expects to find matches what they actually get from their search. Theres still plenty of room for improvement. Even so, already Local Search queries make up almost 40% of all search queries.
The Stages of Business Local Search Savvy
You dont want your enterprise left out of consideration when customers are making up their minds. Many more buyers rely on online information than on traditional methods, like newspapers and Yellow Pages anymore. Make Local Search an integral part of how you connect with customers, old and new.
1. Get listed in appropriate data bases so your business shows up in search results. Find out whether your operation is already listed in key places.
http://www.localsearchresources.com/getlisted.html
2. A simple site supports the rest of your marketing efforts (but you dont need your own website to start with). Realize that its not for making online sales, but to assist your being found - by the search engines, as well as customers. Even a small website builds credibility, and encourages additional traffic to your place of business.
3. Modify your website (if you have one) to rank high with Local Search. Learn how at http://www.localsearchresources.comMake your website useful, so it provides answers that your customers routinely ask about. Tell about your services, product brands and specifications, hours, payment methods, how to, etc.
4. Optimize your website for keywords and in-depth search terms. While a small business may show up in Local Search results, theres a marked advantage to being in the front of the list. For example, in search results showing 30 rug cleaners, those closest to the top/front are more likely to be chosen.
5. Build your website into your store activities and business policies. Make it an extension of how you conduct special promotions, develop customer loyalty, and announce new products.
Cause a Ripple in Your Community Pond
Brick and mortar operations are often delighted to discover that the Internet is sending a steady stream of new customers, with little effort on their part. Capitalize on the convenient ways to connect to customers online.
Its said that there are only three ways to boost business revenue.
1. Increase your number of customers
2. Sell more to customers each time they buy
3. Sell to them more frequently
Your Internet exposure can help you accomplish all three. It can also makes you a bigger fish in the pond where you live and conduct business. And that deserves your serious attention.
Copyright 2005 Off the Page
--Dr. Lynella Grant An expert in Yellow Page ads and Local Search. Stand out online and offline, so you capture more Internet-savvy buyers for your brick and mortar business. Free resources 719-395-9450