Archive for the 'e-Commerce' Category
Increase sales with PayPal and Google Checkout
WorkHappy.net has a good article on why you should consider accepting PayPal and Google Checkout in your online sales. The full article is worth a read but here’s a few tidbits of note:
- …according to a recent survey by JupiterResearch. Among Internet users, 33% said they had a PayPal account and 23% called it their preferred way to pay.
- 18% of U.S. online shoppers in a recent PayPal-sponsored survey said they would not have made a purchase if the retailer had not taken PayPal.
- You can include a Checkout button with your Google AdWords, making your ad more noticeable.
- Some of the Checkout fees are being waived until Jan. 1 2008
All the good stuff aside, the readers’ comments point out a few complaints about the process/user flow in Google Checkout. I imagine they’ll improve the service as it matures.
Secrets of SEO for Online Retailers - Thursday July 12
Want to make the most of your online store? Need help with pay-per click advertising?
The folks who brought us “The Crazy Messed World of Ecommerce” are putting on a FREE webinar, Thursday July 12 at Noon EST (9AM PST). This online event kicks off a series of monthly webinars on critical ecommerce topics presented by Elastic Path’s ecommerce experts. To participate simply visit their site and sign up.
The Crazy World of E-commerce
Have you ever wondered what life would be like if it was like the Internet? The folks at Elastic Path have come up with great videos to illustrate this fact. The following hilarious video shows what shopping would be like if it was like on-line shopping.
5 key characteristics of web brands
According to market researchers Millward Brown Optimor, Google is the most powerful brand of 2007. While discussing this, Gerry McGovern writes that the 5 most important characteristics of web brands are:
- Web brands are useful
- They have a clarity of purpose
- The embrace simplicity
- They interact and engage
- They are customer-centric
Now, maybe your business isn’t Google. Maybe your business is selling real live widgets in a brick-and-mortar shop. Even so, if you have a web site, these characteristics of web brands still apply. If your web site isn’t simple to use, doesn’t do what the customer needs it to do, and doesn’t make it easy for the customer to interact with your company, then your brand suffers for it. If you’re not easy to do business with online, why would the customer think you are easy to do business with offline? The trick for an offline business, I think, is to clearly evaluate what it is that your web site needs to be useful at. Why would a customer come to your website? What do they need it for? How can it help the customer meet their goals? To succeed online, businesses need to answer those questions, then design a web site that does all these things well. If your web site doesn’t do these things (at the very least), then it’s wasted everyone’s time.
Five Barriers to Customer Entry
In this interesting article ClickZ expert, Jack Aaronson, looks at the barriers people create when building their website. These barriers are turning away more business than you realize.
The top five barriers are as follows:
1. Demanding too much information
Creating an account shouldn’t require too much time and effort, yet some websites ask you for an exorbitant of information. Making your sign up page difficult to fill in will turn away many potential customers.
2. Requiring data before anything else
Some websites require you to create an account before adding to your cart, while others will only let you see the site after you’ve register. This only tells potential clients that you will treat them well but only after they have shown an interest in your products.
3. Make users repeat themselves often
One you’ve bought something somewhere, buying a second item should be a piece of cake. You shouldn’t have to enter the same data again.
4. Making users enter promo codes
Promotional codes are a great way to get more customers, but make sure that these are short and easy to copy and paste. The last thing I want to do is to write a long number down because the code is in a graphic.
5. Bad customer service
Although we are getting more and more Web savvy, we’re still human and still crave the human interaction. For most of us, the phone is ideal. Let your customers know how they can reach you at anytime.
10 Easy Steps to a “Horrible” Ecommerce Site
Jason Chance, a contributor at sitepoint, manages the day to day business operations of numerous e-commerce sites and consults to small businesses on developing online selling strategy. Over the years he has critiqued numerous e-commerce site and seen the best and worst.
The following humourous and very sarcastic tips should be followed if you want to create a website that won’t work.
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Six Payment gateways reviewed
If you are starting your own ecommerce website, you have many decisions to make. Do you write your own shopping cart or use an existing one? Who should be your merchant account provider? Who will deliver your goods? With so many decisions to make, you hardly have time to sort through all the information you’ll need in order to make the best choice for your business.
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