Tag Archives: E-Commerce

Consultancy, Relationship, SMO

You Got 7 Seconds To Do It – Hot Data

7 Comments

I have been reading the IOD magazines in my Christmas break and they have got an interesting article on e-commerce. They claim that you have got seven seconds to capture and interest your visitor. With so much content online these days the old maxim that content, content, content would guarantee a number of visitors is yesterdays news. Why?

First it takes time to produce quality content, not only do you have to be well informed you also need an opinion. Even if you have these two aspects it may not be enough. Writing content is an art as Sherrilynne over at Strive Pr can explain. Is it cheap to produce quality content? Hell no, even the most established bloggers such as Dosh Dosh require an indeterminate amount of time to write and check there content before it goes on there website. Other bloggers or companies employ other people do it for them. Which ultimately costs money instead of time.

Is Content King? Nope. A few months ago I looked at setting up a debt recovery business. In my research I was staggered to find so much quality content already on the net . I could have written till I was blue in the face with original content. I do not think that that my debt recovery website would have got on to the golden first page of google results for debt as a search word. As Chris Barling, in the IOD article also CEO of e-commerce software company Actinic, explains: “People try to trick Google, but it’s very good at finding relevant sites.

So what to do? Owen and I have been talking too about this problem recently and we do believe there is a solution. It does not lay in the content that you produce. Although original content is beneficial. It is no longer about one certain area but the concept as a whole. You can now buy a very respectable website for £1000 pounds. Unless it is geared to engage your market in all honesty you are better spending the money on hosting a wine and cheese evening for your potential customers . The only problem with that is, in a time poor world you are severely limiting your market and my 7 seconds was up long ago.

Consultancy, E-Commerce, Uncategorized

Online vs Bricks and Mortar

A topic my friend Leo and I often talk about is how online businesses compare to bricks and mortar ones. Here is some insight he had about how you can start to compare the two:

In hard times people get a little bit more creative about making money. As there is less money to go around one wants to insure that what one has can go a long way. One might be tempted to visit markets and a sell some products or maybe open an online shop. Online businesses or websites tend to be seen as a cheap option. no rent, no expensive layout costs, staff recruitment cost. Is that so?

It is common misconception that online stores are cheap and easy. It can be best be summoned up by you get what you pay/put in. For example Ebay provides excellent e-commerce facilities. The only down side with it is the cost. All our clients that use that service are trying unsuccessfully to get away from it. They are tired of Ebay taking their percentage. Unfortunately building up customer trust on there own website is proving difficult. But that need not be the case with the right planning and investment.

This is where the shop comparison comes in. If you would spend ten thousand pounds setting up out high street retail shop, you will need to spend at least that on an internet retail business to make it successful. There are few shortcuts that really work. If you want to create a successful business you will need to either spend the money to employ somebody to set it up for you in the way that create positive sales, or you will have to spend the time yourself. If you thing that just buying a domain name and putting some e-commerce software purchased for a couple of hundred bucks is going to create an online business, I have news for you. It ain’t going to happen. Pity you may say, but the good news is that with the right tick sheet you can solve many of the problems.

Before you’ll begin you may want to think about the following:

  • Customer registration and account management
  • News letter signup
  • Automatic email confirmation
  • Search feature
  • Secure user login
  • User behaviour statistics
  • Varied Payment options
  • Email to a friend

Or maybe not, How about this:

  1. Target Audience – Who is your website directed at? Other businesses, older people, all age groups? It is important to understand who you are talking to and what goals you have for the site.
  2. Number of Pages – Do you know the number and types of pages and how they relate to each other? You don’t need to know the exact details but try and think about what types of pages you should have.
  3. Content – This means the text inside the pages and it is the most important part of the website. The rest of the site builds what we call in the industry rapport, but the contents are what sell your product or services. In fact if your site looked horrible but had great content it could still be successful, but not the other way around.
  4. Design – Do you know what colors you would like or the type of graphic contents? Do you have logos ready to be used? Your site can be graphic heavy as we say or it can be clean and sparse. It is your choice and is very much a personal decision. If you don’t know what you want, you can surf the internet and find some sites you like.
  5. Images – Do you have all the pictures for the site and are they in a digital format?
  6. Forms – These pages are the ones that collect information from your visitors and then send you this information as an email. You can contact us to discuss your options. We will guide you through the process, one step at a time.

There some interesting information there, however I would tend to take it a step further. The key to making a business work, regardless of whether it’s online or offline, is a successful business case. Without the correct strategy in place you’re doomed to failure, regardless of how complete your online offering will be. Focusing on the technology is the wrong place to start; first analyse what demand exist for your services, then decide what effort and resources you want to invest in it.

business, Consultancy, E-Commerce, money, Relationship, work connexions

Online Shop and how much should it cost. Retail Versus Online

1 Comment

In hard times people get a little bit more creative about making money. As there is less money to go around one wants to insure that what one has can go a long way. One might be tempted to visit markets and a sell some products or maybe open an online shop. As Owen, a friend of mine, pointed out that online businesses or websites tend to be seen as a cheap option. no rent, no expensive layout costs, staff recruitment cost. Is that so?

It is common misconception that online stores are cheap and easy. It can be best be summoned up by you get what you pay/put in. For example Ebay provides excellent e-commerce facilities. The only down side with it is the cost. All our clients that use that service are trying unsuccessfully to get away from it. They are tired of Ebay taking their percentage. Unfortunately building up customer trust on there own website is proving difficult. But that need not be the case with  the right planning and investment.

This is where the shop comparison comes in. If you would spend ten thousand pounds setting up out high street retail shop, you will need to spend at least that on an internet retail business to make it successful. There are few shortcuts that really work. If you want to create a successful business you will need to either spend the money to employ somebody to set it up for you in the way that create positive sales, or you will have to spend the time yourself. If you thing that just buying a domain name and putting some e-commerce software purchased for a couple of hundred bucks is going to create an online business, I have news for you. It ain’t going to happen. Pity you may say, but the good news is that with the right tick sheet you can solve many of the problems.

Before you’ll begin you may want to think about the following:

Customer registration and account management, News letter signup, Automatic email confirmation, Search feature, Secure user login, User behaviour statistics, Varied Payment options, Email to a friend

Or maybe not, How about this:

1)Target Audience:
Who is your website directed at? Other businesses, older people, all age groups? It is important to understand who you are talking to and what goals you have for the site.

2) Number of Pages:
Do you know the number and types of pages and how they relate to each other? You don’t need to know the exact details but try and think about what types of pages you should have.

3) Content:
This means the text inside the pages and it is the most important part of the website. The rest of the site builds what we call in the industry rapport, but the contents are what sell your product or services. In fact if your site looked horrible but had great content it could still be successful, but not the other way around.

4) Design:
Do you know what colors you would like or the type of graphic contents? Do you have logos ready to be used? Your site can be graphic heavy as we say or it can be clean and sparse. It is your choice and is very much a personal decision. If you don’t know what you want, you can surf the internet and find some sites you like.

5) Images:
Do you have all the pictures for the site and are they in a digital format?

6) Forms:
These pages are the ones that collect information from your visitors and then send you this information as an email. You can contact us to discuss your options. We will guide you through the process, one step at a time.

When you have considered this you will then need to discuss with an expert in this field who can help you and guide you through this market.

Advertisement: At Wcx we know social media and online business, we know what works and what does not. We have the expertise and contacts to create a site that will fulfil your Gaols. Take a look at www.WorkConneXions.com or our company Site www.http://web.web.http://web.wcx.me/ for more information.
 
Uncategorized

How do you blog when you sell uninteresting products?

As the title of the blog suggests this is a rather unusual question. I am sure that there are many bloggers out there who would tell you not to even begin. Well I am not sure that I agree. In fact when I read a lot of the “How To Make Money Online” blogs, I felt that they do not have anything to sell. Of course this is an illusion, as they are they are selling what they are seeking and they are doing this with nothing more then their own desire to make money. There are hundreds of money making blogs out there. I am sure there are just as many toilet roll companies. If the money making blog can successfully sustain interest in their topic then the question is how does the toilet roll company, when intrinsically there is nothing of great interest in their product.

An answer to this question is simply that they talk about how they are selling their product. Just the same as for example a money making blog……