How You Can Take Advantage of Social Media Sites

If you have decided to jump on the bandwagon and join thousand of people using social marketing as a tool to grow their business, then you are on the right track. Social marketing has proven to be effective and sustainable in influencing the target market to buy your products and services. One of the most utilized strategies is by tapping on social marketing sites that are popping up everywhere. Of course it is necessary to choose only those that are reliable and good for your ecommerce business. Among the most popular social marketing sites today are:

• Flickr: It is perhaps the best online photo sharing site in the world. It allows you to showcase photos to friends, family and even to those you do not know. Launched 5 years ago, it now has more than 3 billion photos stored. It is a great site to promote your business.

• YouTube: This video social marketing site works wonders for any business. With YouTube, we can share videos for everyone to see. By uploading some videos, you will have people comment and share ideas on your page, which is a great way to understand your target market.

• Metacafe: It is the number 2 site for video social marketing. You can upload and share videos about your products and services so people will know who you are and what you have to offer.

• Digg: In this website, you will find everything you need- from articles, blogs, insights, etc. If you like to improve your marketing and sales, then you need to get started with Digg. This is especially helpful for those who are new to social marketing.

• MySpace: With the music and video now part of its package, MySpace has definitely become one of the top social marketing sites in the world. It has high exposure to most countries in the West and East. Asia is also quite into MySpace too. With so many people joining MySpace, it will be easier to find your target market here.

Social media sites are indeed very helpful in getting you on track with your business goals. In so many ways, they allow you to stay connected to your target customers through photo and video sharing, blogging, commenting, and many more. The important thing with social marketing is you need to be able to keep up with the demand. People feed you with information- they tell you what they want and what they do not want, and in return, they expect you to be able to address their concerns. As a good social marketer, you have to be ready for any challenges that come your way when you use these social marketing tools.

As any good social marketer knows, being prepared for anything is vital to the success of your business. If you can do this, if you can apply the techniques involved in the social marketing process, then go ahead and tell the whole world about your business. You will find that it is probably one of the best things you have ever done.

Grow your web business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.

Online Selling Start-up Guidelines

Thinking about starting an online business? With the rise in e-commerce today, it is but natural for individuals and organizations to go with the flow and start selling online. Some people have always wanted to but never got around to setting up their businesses because of factors such as a lack of e-commerce knowledge while some just got too scared to make the move.

While there are risks involved in starting an online business, it is comparatively lower than that of a “physical” store. With an online business, you will not have to worry about putting up a structure- an office, a store, etc. Inventory can be kept at home. Another thing is, with an online store you will not need hire someone to handle customer service stuff. You can do this all by yourself, unless the business has expanded already. Additionally, with an online business, you will make your products and services available 24/7, all year round. You also get the benefit of work flexibility, meaning you can work from home, from your hotel room, from the bathroom even! The list of advantages is really long but these are the major ones.

To get started, here are the simple things you need to understand.

• Know your niche. It is important to be sure of what products you will be selling and which market to tap. Although the internet is a hub of different kinds of buyers, you may want to make your target clear.

• Get a domain name. When you choose a domain name, make sure it is understandable, short and simple. Make sure it highlights the can of business you are selling and do not make it sound ambiguous.

• Get a website. Make sure the layout looks professional. Your website is a representative of your business so if it looks bad, it will affect customers’ impression and will likely push them away.

• Sign up for a merchant account and payment processor. You want to offer payment flexibility to your customers so you should get a merchant account. It would be such a waste to have many customers driven away because your store does not allow card payments.

• Establish social networking. Go out and tell the world of your business. Talk to people. Join social networks and establish connections. You have to let people know who you are. While having a website will allow people to know you, there is still a big market potential somewhere else. Make sure you do what you can to market your product.

Selling online is really a great way to earn money- with low overhead cost and quick returns on investment. Since more and more people are choosing to buy over the internet instead of having to go the mall or department store, you can be sure that you will reap some profits for your business if you do things right. As long as you follow the simple guidelines and really work hard to improve your business, then nothing could go wrong. Good luck!

Grow your web business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.

Understanding the E-commerce Software: Single Page Checkout

Today, E-commerce technology has transformed the way customers shop online. While online shopping used to be such a taxing and intimidating experience, it has turned into a friendly and easy experience for people. As a result, the number of shoppers has significantly increased. With the convenience and simplicity it offers, it is inevitable that people would prefer it over traditional shopping.

Over the years, many customers complain and clamored for a faster, better way to shop online. In an attempt to resolve this problem, a breakthrough in E-commerce technology was made. With the development of the single page checkout system, the ease and convenience is taken to a whole new level for every customer. We will no longer have to worry about waiting for at least a couple of minutes just to pay for a certain product or service. We only need to fill out payment information in a single page, without the hassles of having to click pages, which is typical of the 3-step payment process.

A single page checkout, also called one-page, single-step or single-screen checkout, is an internet checkout portal that is one can find in a single page. Just like any online checkout, customers will be able to pay by logging into an account or a guest account if the customer is not a member. A single page checkout allows a customer to information pertaining to billing, shipping and payment. It can be used in various applications such as Flash and the regular HTML.

Here are some simple guidelines you can use when you decide to get a single page checkout for your online shop.

1. The single page checkout should be simple and precise. If the checkout still takes a long time to fill out due to so many extensions, it will just be like the traditional checkout system. Remember, the more time a customer spends to pay for a product, the higher the chances of losing the customer along the way.

2. Sections should be clearly set apart from other sections. Regardless of what type of application you will use, you should make the checkout sections distinguishable from others. For example, the billing should be placed in one area and shipping should be placed in another. Delineation should be clear to avoid confusion.

3. Offer the traditional checkout system to your customers just in case. Although the single page is obviously better than the older one, some customers just feel more comfortable with it so you should offer this option in order to give customers flexibility.

When online shops provide simple, no hassle checkouts, more and more people will be likely to buy their product or service. This amazing technology not only makes payment a one-step process, it also provides other great features. For one, it offers accessibility, which makes it easier to log into the account anytime, anywhere. Next, it accepts all kinds of payment options available online such as payments through credit and debit cards. Third, it accepts credit and debit card payments which allow wider options for customers. Fourth, it provides real-time shipping information such as price quotes from major couriers. Fifth, it can accept coupons and gift certificate codes so you can conveniently use these if you have them. While not applicable to all, some shops even offer payments in multiple currencies.

Grow your web business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.

Social Marketing: The Key to Success for Any Business

Social marketing is the use of marketing strategies to promote a certain product or service to the society using their ideas, behavior and attitude. For example, you can put a sign “Drink in Moderation” right below a beer ad. In a way, you are promoting the product and at the same time giving a sound advice to the consumer. Social Marketing was created in the 1970s as a means to gain more merits by seeking the society’s approval through identifying their wants and needs.

There are many concepts involved in social marketing. They will help us get a better understanding of why it is instrumental to the success of any business.

• Its main function is to influence people. By being able to find out what the customers want from the product or service you are offering, it will be easier to adapt to that and be able to manipulate the way they think in a positive way.

• The focus is not the marketer but the target customers. Reach out and talk to them, or hire someone who will do that for you. You base your marketing strategy on their wants and needs, and nothing else. It should be from the customers’ point of view and not from the marketer’s point of view because these two things can be entirely different.

• When you get a better understanding of the wants and needs of the customers are, put them into action right away. It should be applied in the product or service by highlighting the benefits. It can also have something to do with the price. You can ask yourself if the price is reasonable or competitive after putting into consideration the level of quality your products have.

• Promote products in places where people can actually find out about what you have to offer. Aside from promotion, your product or service should also be made available to people at any given time. You may have very good “influence” on the target market but the products are out of stock most of the time so, what good will that do?

• Monitor the market and be wary of competitors who may give you negative publicity. You have to be prepared to counteract such problems for your social marketing to be effective.

• The marketplace is constantly changing and so programs must be regularly monitored and management must be prepared to rapidly alter strategies and tactics.

Many sites offer social marketing opportunities for businesses such as Flickr, Wiki, Bebo and MySpace. With these sites, individuals and organizations can seek better ways to talk to people, understand their needs and at the same time market their products and services.

Sometimes businesses hesitate to accept the social marketing concepts for various reasons. But people should be aware that since the birth of this concept, many have succeeded in their businesses by simply using social marketing as a tool to gain more sales. The reason is simple- social marketing gives people what they want and need.

Grow your web business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.

Why Businesses Choose Single Page Checkout

A single page checkout means a customer can purchase an item using one page checkout only. It is different and a lot better than the old checkout system that has so many pages to go to first before the actual payment is received. Online ecommerce sites utilizing this feature can generate more sales. It is quite functional and user friendly. No need to look into long checkout processes because it has everything necessary for a payment transaction in just a single page.

As mentioned, the single page checkout has very simple set up. In the checkout page, you will find all the information needed to be filled out for the transaction to go through- billing information, shipping information, shipping method and the total amount that needs to be paid. So the only thing a customer needs to do is put in all the required information and that’s about it. The simplest thing ever made for e-commerce!

The single page checkout actually has many advantages. For one, single page checkouts are fast. Customers only need to type in their information such as their name, address and credit or debit card number. There is no need to click on so many things before the payment process is done. Next, it is convenient. If they are repeat customers, their information are already stored somewhere and they will not have to go through the hassle of filling out information again. Once the software detects that you are the same person, it will automatically find your information in its storage system. Lastly, it guarantees better conversion rates. In the traditional online checkout, it takes about 3-4 pages before the customer can actually buy the product. This is obviously giving the customers more reason to think whether they should really buy the product or not. Studies show that half of the customers waiting for the payment to go through change their mind and as a result, it is a loss of sales. With a single page checkout, people are not given time to change their minds so you get more sales coming your way.

There are still some that argue about the efficiency of a single page checkout. Many would say that it does not really reduce the time spent on the transaction because you have to input the same number of information anyway. While this may be true, it is still correct to say that with a single page checkout, there is lesser amount of clicks to be made and definitely, you get better sales and inventory. It may take some time for people to get used to the single page checkout but once they do, they will realize that it is simply a lot better than the steps checkout.

With single page checkout, you are assured of a better experience for your customers. There is no need for them to wait for long before their payment has been processed. Customer satisfaction is significantly increased and with that, you will be sure to find and retain more customers.

Grow your web business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.

Online Marketing for Ecommerce Sites

Marketing is of huge importance in the online industry. This is a totally different ballgame than the typical businesses down the road from your house. Where in typical brick and mortar businesses there has been a standard of “build it and they will come”. This is not the case for the online industry. If you wanted to compare your internet business to an offline business it would be like building a store in the most remote location and the only way to get business is to drive a bus to and from your store.

Your ecommerce website is going to be unknown originally and the only way most people will know of it without any marketing will be if they just happen to stumble across it. The bus you are driving is the marketing method. To get it going, you are going to find people who are interested in your store and drive them to your website. If the people you were driving were interested in your store to begin with, it increases the chances that they will buy something once they get there. This is the overall concept of online business marketing. You absolutely have to jump headfirst into the marketing game to be successful.

It is all about testing

Now with the above analogy, hopefully you understand that you are going to have to market your business. The idea now though is to take a step back and be rational about your thinking. Not all of your marketing ventures are going to be successful. In fact, a good portion of them will not be. This means that whatever you are doing, you should analyze how much traffic you are receiving and evaluate your return on investment (ROI). If the ROI is not high enough, get out or modify the marketing plan.

The many places to advertise

There are numerous things that you can do online to drive traffic to your website. This topic alone deserves numerous articles and there are hundreds of lengthy books on this topic. I do not have anything to recommend to you, but rather, just get out there and start reading. Below, I have a few of the most commonly used methods to bringing traffic to a website.

Direct Advertising

Direct advertising is the term that is given to the method of going out to related websites and paying to place banners or links back to your website from one that already has a significant amount of traffic. The idea is that the advertising website has traffic that might be interested in your products. They will click your advertisement and hopefully purchase an item.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization has really become popular over the last five years. Google receives several million searches per day. A good portion of those people are likely looking to buy products that you have for sale. The problem is that your website is listed on the 15th page for “good smelling candles” and no one ever goes that far down the list to find your website. You have to invest time and often money into what is called search engine optimization (SEO) to get ranked higher.

Pay Per Click

Google’s system called “Adwords” has really helped many businesses that want to see immediate results from their efforts. Businesses who are in highly competitive markets may find this worthwhile. These are simply the advertisements listed on the far right when you do a search at Google, usually under “Sponsored Ads”. The businesses that advertise there are paying for each click on their advertisement that they receive. Too competitive of markets can make it a poor choice though.

Since the clicks are based on bidding, it is not uncommon to have to pay four to eight dollars for a single targeted visitor. Do as much research on this topic before you invest into it. Many people have lost their shirts off their back when not bidding properly or keeping an eye on their pay per click advertising.

Learn how you can increase your Internet business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.

How to Source the Right Product

If you hear nothing else that is written here, please here one thing. Finding the right product to sell online is the single most important part of starting a business online. A bad product from a good product can be there difference of millions of dollars in your bank account. Below, I have listed some of the most important factors in finding the right product.

The product must be somewhat difficult to find

It is absolutely imperative that you find a good balance here. When people first ask me the question, “Why isn’t my product selling?” I ask all of them the same question. “Are you selling toilet paper?” Most of them come back with a puzzled look on their face or simply answer the question and say “No, I’m selling rubber bands.”

Do you see the problem here? Anyone can probably drive within 5 miles of their home and find toilet paper for near nothing in price. Unless it is like ultra-sensitive with designs on it, toilet paper will not sell online. No one cares to buy it and then pay for the shipping costs, or have the patience to wait for the duration of having it shipped. Rubber bands are in the same category at toilet paper.

You must find a product that people can not go directly down the street and buy. This defeats the purpose of buying products online and you will find it very difficult to compete with local markets on a wide variety of products.

The product must be in demand

On the opposite end of the spectrum we have the requirement for demand. Another question I am frequently asking is, “Does your product solve a problem?” Often times I hear the word, “No”.

You have to find products that people want and need. I do not care how well you market purple ceramic frogs with pink polka dots on them, there is such a small market and demand, you will certainly find it difficult to market. Almost no one would want to put a two foot tall pink and purple ceramic frog in their living room. Nor do people really need that product.

Instead, your product must serve a purpose as well and solve a problem of some kind. Think of your most needed products in the world. We can even go back to toilet paper. People need toilet paper. There was a need for it. Find products along those lines.

Factor in Shipping Costs

The one downside of working online is that everything is shipped. The benefit is that there are no taxes online unless you are buying from someone in the same state. Therefore, the taxes and shipping costs kind of balance out if you are selling the right product.

At the same time, a lot of extremely heavy and large products simply do not sell well online. When you are selling a product such as this, you may have to charge a hundred or more dollars for an item that sometimes only costs forty or fifty dollars. This is a huge problem when trying to sell things online and compete. You should always keep this in mind when thinking of products to sell.

Learn how you can increase your Internet business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.

How to Pick an Ecommerce Shopping Cart

Finding the right shopping cart is not an easy task. It often takes lots of time in research and you really have to analyze where you want to go with your store. You do not want to be too restricting by going with an overly simple one where you may not be able to add products and things. At the same time, you may not have a demand for one that has all the bells and whistles. This is why there are so many out there. Many have different options that you may or may not need. It is now time to go through and figure out which one will work best for you. Below is the method that I recommend you use to finding the right one.

Develop a List

Start out by doing some searching. You can ask other people what they use, look at other ecommerce websites, and you might even do a search to find some fairly popular ones. It is okay if you start out with a fairly lengthy list. While putting it together, you might as well go ahead and eliminate those that you know you definitely will not want. However, if you are not developing the list and just found it online, you may need to use the two following methods to help eliminate several of them.

Remove Shopping Carts That Are Bloated

First off, you should already have a good idea of what you want your website to look like. Likewise, you should also have a fairly good understanding of the procedure you want your website visitors to go through to purchase a product. Keep in mind: the more simple it is the more sales you will get. Do not ask questions that you do not care about.

Therefore, go through your list and look for shopping carts that may have this quality about them. You want to avoid shopping carts that require your website visitors to input too much information. Or, if the backend is too complicated and simply difficult to use because it has too many features, you should remove those as well.

Remove Shopping Carts That Do Not Meet Your Criteria

There are a huge variety of shopping carts out there. Some though will only allow for certain merchant accounts or have other restrictions. Quickly eliminate those from the list that may cause you problems down the road. You should look for those that are as closely as what you have in mind and nothing less. You certainly do not want to make too many sacrifices on your website where it does not have the process that you wanted to have. Get as close to what you had in mind as possible and other things can be added or removed later on down the road.

Check the Customer Service

Check for good customer service. While the best idea would be to just set it up and never have to deal with them, this is likely not going to be the case. You will probably need their help in someway to get it setup exactly right. You can simply check their service by sending the shopping carts customer service an email and ask them a few questions.

There are a couple of things you should look at. First, you want them have a timely response. If they are extremely slow (more than three days in my opinion) then I would avoid them. They likely will not help you with more difficult things if they can not even answer the simple questions you are asking.

Last, but not least, make sure their responses are not “canned” and remain professional. Good quality customer service means that their answers will be tailored to your questions. They are not simply automated or lack professionalism.

Remove the shopping carts from your list if they do not have good customer service.

The Final Stage

By now, your list should be fairly small. Now, simply read others reviews and pick one that you like the most. If you feel that one shopping cart was especially good in customer service, reviews, or very close to what you like, then simply pick that one. You will find that the closer you get to what you had in mind originally, the more pleased you will be with it later on.

Learn how you can increase your Internet business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.

Finding a Good Merchant Services Provider

Overview

When you first get into online business, it is imperative that you think ahead and be ahead of the curve. For this reason alone, you should start out by accepting credit card payments. The vast majority of people who might buy your products are likely to have a credit card. It is much more likely than them having a PayPal account.

I am certainly not saying that offering PayPal as a form of payment is a bad thing. But I read elsewhere that only about 1 in 10 people who own a credit card have a PayPal account. Even less use their PayPal account regularly. Therefore, you might be cutting your potential business by 90% just so that you can avoid paying for merchant services. You certainly do not want to cut your own throat before you ever get started.

Below are some tips for finding a good merchant services provider.

1: Know the kinds of fees you will be expected to pay

Merchant account fees can vary widely. One of the initial tactics some will use will be to encourage you to use their services with low upfront cost. Little do you know until you read the fine print that you are going to be charged a hefty percentage for each payment that is processed. When selling expensive products, they could be tapping into twenty or thirty dollars of your profits. Try to find one that has lower fees and not too expensive on their setup costs.

2: Check out the Customer Service

Before you ever sign anything or before they ever have the opportunity to charge you a dime, you should test out their customer service. You can simply do this by asking them a couple of questions about their services. Keep in mind that quickest is not always the best. A lot of companies online will now have automated systems setup to answer questions. This is not always the worst thing, but I have always felt more comfortable talking to someone directly.

You know that if it takes several days for them to get back to you that they will likely be the same way when you decide to use their service. People buying from a company they have never dealt with before are already going to be somewhat skeptical. If it takes a few days for you to get a response back from your merchant, and then another day or two to get back to your potential customers about something, this is detrimental to your business. You need them to be prompt and handle the questions professionally.

3: Price is not always the single most important aspect

When looking at a merchant service provider, there are many other factors than price to take into account. You may be shopping around for a website and it is important that it will be easy for you to setup their credit card processing system with your shopping cart. Some merchant accounts may require that you manually run the credit card as if you were an actual retail store and this is not what you want either. Instead, you want someone who has plenty of features and will make it easy on both you and your customers to go through the ordering process.

4: Find one that fits your needs

Not all merchant accounts offer the exact same features. Some work well and have modules setup for specific shopping carts. You want to be thorough and find one that will actually work with you to get everything setup properly. If you are having to twist their arm and are confused on whether it will work or not for you, I would perhaps avoid this company. They want your business, but you want them to be familiar with the types of things you need. Whether it is their ability to work with a certain shopping cart or some other specific situation, it may be best to go with merchant accounts that directly advertise that they allow for the features and capabilities that you need.

5: Read others reviews

When in doubt and trying to narrow down your decision, read what others have had to say. A lot of times, a bad reputation is a good sign that you want to steer clear of that company. Unfortunately, many people get sucked into the “too good to be true” situations. They see extra low fees and jump at it. You may be contemplating falling into the same trap. Always read reviews and if you see more negative ones than positive ones, then I would recommend looking elsewhere.

Learn how you can increase your Internet business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.

Choosing your Shipping Provider

Once you have the idea of what products you will be selling and have everything setup to do business online, the next large step is to evaluate who you will be using for shipping. Customers will want to know this upfront and it is important to take the shipping process very serious. Poor shipping practices will mean the difference between positive reviews and negative ones. Internet buyers have little patience for terrible packaging, products arriving damaged, or products that are arriving well after the purchase was made. Below are your three primary options for shipping products.

United States Postal Service (USPS)

The Cheaper Option for Light Weight Products

The benefit to going with the United States Postal Service (USPS) is that they have extremely affordable shipping costs on products that are under about two pounds in weight. Keep in mind that when I suggested that you find a product you should keep in mind shipping expenses. Many items sold are under two pounds and therefore a good portion of the items can be sold via USPS for less expense than the other two primary carriers. The opposite is true if you start getting heavier than this. The price will start increasing dramatically if you have oddly shaped and large, heavy items to ship.

Products can not be tracked accurately and no guarantee on delivery date

The downside to using the USPS is that the tracking system is not done very well. Generally, you cannot track exactly where the items are, you simply know if they were delivered or not.

Another huge flaw is that the USPS does not guarantee a quick delivery. Especially during Christmas time, the postal service can get backed up and items can take weeks to be delivered. It is very likely that clients will be unhappy if this occurs.

FedEx

The shipping company for heavy items

If you feel as though the benefit outweighs the problem of the cost of shipping large heavy items, then you should certainly check into FedEx. On anything over three pounds it is very likely you will find them to be the cheapest of the three shipping carriers.

Good Tracking System

FedEx has really done a good job with their tracking system. I have never had a problem with their system. Your clients will see that you shipped the item, that the item is in route, where it is exactly at, and when the item should arrive.

UPS

A little excessive in price

UPS has been around for quite a while. They do offer good service but FedEx is usually the best option for heavy items, USPS is the best for lightweight items when it comes to price. UPS probably falls somewhere in the middle for items that range two to four pounds in weight.

The primary benefit here might be that you have one close to you so that it is easy to drop off items. You may be able to justify paying just a little bit more for the benefit.

UPS started the great tracking system

UPS really does pride itself in having a good shipping service. They seem to do a really good job of getting products to their delivery address on time and safely from what I have seen. Their tracking system is much like FedEx and they have been using the system for quite sometime now. You are able to see where the package is at all times and receive an accurate delivery date.

Learn how you can increase your Internet business with ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.