Archive for the ‘E-Commerce’ Category
Choosing the Right E-Commerce Solution
August 4th, 2009 | 
Author: I have been debating a few things in regards to ecommerce these days. I have set up and used several ecommerce software solutions over the last few years.
Recently, I have been setting up an affiliate program for my products. As with many products out there, individual sales pages are created. In these pages, a long sales pitch is detailed with benefits, and a call to action for the reader.
When you use an ecommerce store though, you have a bunch of products within the same area. Although you do have a sales page section it is meant more for a description before the cash out button.
With online stores becoming more of an attraction for business owners, buyers are liking the shorter form of sales page found in the ecommerce shop setup. As long as you still detail the benefits, and describe how the product will help the customer, that is really all you need to sell an item. Do you see Walmart throwing up long 3 page sales pitches for all 500k products they have? Wow that would be time consuming. Instead, they practice the art of making their product as enticing as possible to the customers with as little wording as possible.
So, although I have created a long salespage for a couple of my products to do some conversion testing, I am still an ecommerce lover who would rather run a store.
How do you decide what store to choose? Are you a techie? If not, installing one of the ecommerce choices included in your hosting control panel, is probably the best way to go. Then all you need to do is click a few buttons to install, and spend some time adding products, and a logo to make your own designer storefront.
As you learn more, you can do more. If you are still scared of anything technical, there are always sites such as Freewebs.com that allow you to setup a shopping cart on your site by just clicking on a widget. I often encourage new beginners to start with this type of site because you can start for free. Then as you get more familiar with the way things work, you can upgrade to more product availability.
If you are interested in starting up an online business, you could visit my store, grab a copy of my free report on dropshipping and resell rights products. These 2 guides will give you resources for getting products free to start building your online store.
Then when you are ready to proceed, you can check out my tutorials for either setting up a site using freewebs(found in my tutorial on setting up a free store) or Cube Cart(detailed in my book “Setting Up and Running an Online Store”)
For more information, go check out my store now at http://kdbbookclub.info
Selling on a Blog vs. a Website
Most people suggest to sell from a website because you can add pages, set up ecommerce shopping carts, and more. A lot of people have begun blending a blog and a website look together by using Wordpress. I used to add the ecommerce plugin and you can list all of your products on your blog/site in a more orderly fashion.
But what if you only have a blogger account? Can you still sell? I have known lots of people who have. I decided that I would try adding some products here to see if I can amass any sales. Why waste your traffic by not adding something to buy? It is a little more difficult with Blogger I think due to the fact, unlike Wordpress, you cannot make any pages. But you can still add a product pic, a definition, and a paypal button with an html add on.
I do have several lesson tutorials I would like to promote. Also I have some ebooks I wrote. I have always found doing the graphics are the hardest for people like me who are not artists. I have done my best. The writing will make up for anything I am sure. I wanted to narrow down my niche for the website I do have. I would like to keep it for gifts and kids books. Adding business and marketing ebooks and lessons may not follow the same path. We all know on here, that this is a blog all about business. So it stands to reason, this is a good place to promote, no?
Today I think I will add my first ebook. As you all know I have included a free lesson for all who subscribe to my list. I like to add bonuses and extras in my emails when I send them out too so it is not all about hard selling.
Now I know, there are a lot of people who would like to make you think that a huge sales page is the only way to convince someone properly to buy. I think that is crap actually. I personally hate long sales letters. The more there is to read, the more I end up disbelieving the product and what is being said. So I like to keep it simple. I will add the picture, description, and maybe a paragraph or two of the book to get you interested and so the reader can get a better idea of the writing style.
Setting Up and Running an Online Store
This indepth 50 page tutorial will walk the new beginner step by step through setting up an online store with Cube Cart software that is free with a hosting account. Not a techie? No problem, this easy to follow book is designed for you.
Price $15.00 USD
The Importance of Product Supply Availability
Today I was researching some product prices online. The thing to do when there is so much competition for Christmas. This is the time every marketing strategy is tried, every possible option checked out, and alot of money spent on advertising.
I went to several different sites and tried to purchase some things. When I clicked on them I received the message “this product no longer available”. I just spent a few hours searching for the specific product only to receive that message. I was rather annoyed. So I searched some more, found something else, only to find that it was no longer available either.
One of the biggest crucial things for survival in this overly competitive time of the season is to make sure you have enough products available. If you get quite a few sales a day, you should make sure you have hundreds of products available.
Make sure that you keep an updated inventory list at all times, and make sure you only allow yourself to get down to a certain amount of product availability.
This brings me to another thought I had today as I was scanning around. Overall presentation of your site. There are so many more shopping sites online now. What makes you decide to buy from one place over the other even when they may have the same products for the same price? Does one site appear more professional than the other site? Does it look like it has been around longer? Does it look like it is a more trustworthy site? What kinds of questions run through your head before you make that final choice?
The bigger name stores like Walmart, Toys R Us, Macy’s, Big Alots, and others can afford much more leeway in certain things than the smaller businesses. But does that mean they deserve all of the business then?
That is where the creative thinking/marketing comes into play. You need to find something unique to offer. Free shipping is a big one. If you can’t afford free shipping because you are working with a dropshipper who doesn’t offer it, can you find a cheap product that people may like and want to add for free? Free gift wrapping? I have a company I deal with that doesn’t offer free gift wrapping, but it is cheap so it is worth it to tell your customers it is free and you pay the little bit of difference. If it means the difference in sales or not for only a few dollars, it is worth it.
In these times as everyone surfs around looking for gifts online, it may get discouraging to the young new shop keeper trying to make a name for himself. They may feel like they really can’t compete. But Rome was not built in a day and neither was any other business. You need to keep perservering. Keep learning and practising something new in regards to advertising and marketing every day, don’t allow yourself to have any negative thoughts, and just believe in what you have set out to do. Take out your mission statement. Read over again what you had planned for your 5 and 10 year terms. Remind yourself that you are still on track, and will remain that way providing you keep going as planned. Something is only a dream without a reality if you have not properly prepared for it, and envisioned it as such. This is not a dream like winning the lottery. This dream is a future you have planned and prepared to work for long and hard no matter how it may seem from one day to the next.
So take care. Keep your ideas going. Don’t be afraid to try something new. If anyone has any questions don’t be afraid to post a comment. I’d love to share ideas and concerns.
E-Commerce?
Having a blog of your own? Why not. But having your own online shop is even better! It takes less than five minutes to sign up, a few more to personalize your shop and finally, a pleasurable stroll through Zlio’s directory of over three million items to fill your newly-created virtual e-store. And at the end of the day, you get a commission on every sale generated through your store (2 to 15%, depending on the supplier).
The most important thing, then, is to generate traffic on your shop (mine’s here, by the way!) Or in addition, you can rely on your family and friends – indeed, if you refer someone to Zlio, Zlio gives you a free bonus of 10% of that person’s commissions, for ever, and 5% of the commissions of anyone they refer in turn! By the way, I thought I might mention that my referral link is http://zlio.com/?page=app:signup&r=116049, in case you’d care to click on it!
