Internet Marketing Commerce

If you’re going to have a promotional code box in your shopping cart you need to do it right. There are a few ways to do it correctly but one that really stands. That one is building you email list with it. Next to your promo code box you should have a tip or text that explains how to get a promo code. For instance, If you would like a promo code please select the; subscribe to newsletter/receive a promo code box on the checkout page before you place your order. This way you will not lose the sale and they can’t receive a promo code until they make a purchase. Not only does this create an incentive to make another purchase, but you won’t have to discount their first purchase.

Another way you could approach it is by saying your promo codes are only available to customers who have already made a purchase. You will receive a postcard in the mail with a promo code to use on your second purchase. This may or may not work but it’s just one of those things you need to test. Promo codes can be a touchy aspect of e-commerce so you’ll have to do at least a few tests before you figure out what’s working best.

There are several things any e-commerce website needs but here are three essentials. You need to be price competitive with both products and shipping, you need to have a good design and usability and you need to have a good handle on your analytics.

Having some of the best or the best prices on products and shipping will make a massive difference in sales. If you are selling renewable products or products that need to be purchased over and over again then you should be able to beat prices. You can make a smaller margin on these types of products because your customers will be buying from you over and over again.

Your websites design and usability need to be as simple and efficient as possible. The more simple and efficient your website is, the easier it will be for customers to find what they’re looking for and the more sales you will make.

You also need to have a good handle on your analytics. The more you know about your traffic and what they’re doing, the more you can increase their shopping experience and your conversion. For instance you need to know how many visitors are leaving after they get a shipping estimate. This will tell you that you need to renegotiate your shipping prices with your shipper in order to increase purchases. You could also just decrease shipping rates and take the cut out of your margin. You will make up for it from the increase in sales you’ll receive from lowering your prices.

One of the keys when it comes to your websites conversion rate is how “secure” do you present yourself to your visitors. They are ready to place an order but want to make sure that your website is secure. There are several different ways to show your customers that your website is secure.

Believe it or not how well a website is designed can have an impact on how secure your visitors think your website is. Even though this doesn’t actually make your website more secure it’s the impression. A lot of consumers will make the assumption that if your website is good looking, with a good layout, more than likely it’s a secure site. You wouldn’t invest the amount of money to make a website look good and not invest to make it secure.

Having an SSL certificate on your websites pages where sensitive information is entered is a must! Not only does it encrypt the connection but it shows your customers a “lock” which means that page is secure. This is probably the most important thing to have when it comes to security. If you want to increase your conversion rate even more and can afford an SSL that’s around $1,000 a year you want an Extended Validation SSL certificate. This will make your visitors web browser address bar green, giving them more of a sense of security. Some of the companies where you can get an EV SSL certificate are VeriSign, GeoTrust and Globalsign.

Another thing you can do is add a “Hacker Safe” or “Secure” tested logo to your website. This does not increase the actual security of your website, but gives your visitors a better sense of security. Add this to your website and you’re sure to see your conversion rate increase. You can get this from companies like McAfee and Comodo.

Imagine watching a video online or watching a TV show where you can buy what you see. Video e-commerce is in its beta stage but the potential of it is amazing. Say you’re watching tiger woods play golf and you like the hat he’s wearing. You will be able to purchase that hat while still watching tiger play golf. You can “click” on his hat and it will bring up a list of companies that sell that hat, their price, shipping, etc. and then you can make a purchase. This is truly going to change the world of commerce in a positive way.

View Click Buy

There are many strategies that you can to use to build a successful E-Commerce website, but the key is target a specific niche and focus on one thing at a time. If you try to do too many things too fast you will become the master of none.

If you really want to get the full potential out of your website before you start anything you want to make sure you have a decent grasp on how search engine optimization works. This is something that your website won’t benefit from right away but over time. It’s important to understand how it works before you build your website otherwise you’re better off starting a completely new website. You don’t want to spend too much time in this area because if you do you’ll never get started. SEO is something that doesn’t happen overnight but more like a year or two down the road depending on how crowded your niche market is. The reason it takes so long is because a website needs to be indexed in search engines, it needs to age, a good amount of content (you must add some kind of website content everyday), relevant back links. Once you have a system going to keep your website updated daily it’s time to look for other forms of traffic.

There are several other ways to bring traffic to your website but best the instant way is pay per click. Pay per click marketing will allow you to bring the most targeted instant traffic you can get next to organic search results (the natural listings). Let’s say you are selling Sony TV’s you can advertise your website for the search term Sony TV’s. This will bring you customers who are looking for Sony TV’s. You could get even more targeted and advertise specific models you are selling. The more targeted you get with pay per click the better conversion rate you’re going to receive.

These strategies are without a doubt the two that every Internet entrepreneur should start out with. You should also start with one marketing strategy, find what works with that strategy, keep it going, then move on to the next to keep your business growing.

One of the biggest things that makes a great Internet company or just a great company is great customer service. Zappos.com is providing just that and beyond! Of the companies and CEOs out there who really do care about their employees and their customers one of them is definitely Zappos. The CEOs salary is $36,000 a year and some of Zappos call center employees are making more than that. With sales approaching 1 billion dollars and 75% of their customers are repeat customers their approach is far beyond succeeding. The core values of Zappos are: Deliver WOW through customer service, embrace and drive change, create fun and a little weirdness, be adventurous, creative, open-minded, pursue growth and learning, build open and honest relationships with communication, build a positive team and family spirit, do more with less, be passionate, determined and be humble.

This is a company that any Internet marketer should definitely take notes from. The way they do business without a doubt creates a WOW factor. If you run your business even half as well as the way they do you’re sure to succeed.

Using staff and or expert reviews are good to have along with customer reviews. However, if you’re going to do this you need to make sure that you clearly separate your staff and expert reviews from your customer reviews. This will be especially beneficial for the products that aren’t top sellers and may have only one review or none at all. That way your customers have at least some kind of review to reference. When you display a staff or expert review it’s a good idea to go in-depth as to why it received this particular review or rating. For instance this particular chair received 4 out of 5 stars for the following reasons. It has good back support, durability, comfortable but the manufacture holes for screws don’t line up exactly perfect. However we were still able to assemble the chair so we gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Allowing customer reviews is a great thing for your business. Even if you receive a few negative reviews, which you will, it’s a good thing. The reason you will receive negative reviews is because you will always have those customers who will find something to complain about. Most of the time a customer feels like they want to review the product when they find a negative it’s just the way it goes. It’s a good thing there are people out there who realize that nothing is perfect and look at the positive things in life. While you may be thinking well what’s the positive about a negative review? Even though it’s a negative review most likely you will have several other reviews that are positive outweighing the negative. Without a negative review some customers may see your reviews as inauthentic. While you may have the option for reviews in place you’ll find that barely any customers write reviews. Well one way to fix that is after a customer places an order offer them an incentive to write a review. For instance, give them a coupon that gives them 5% off their next order.

Video and eCommerce are starting to become one and the results are looking good. One example, YouTube has eCommerce written all over it and it looks like it’s beginning to open new doors. When you watch a music video for instance, if that song’s available for purchase you have the option to purchase it from Amazon or iTunes at the bottom of the video. It’s pretty clear that a video gives the viewer a clearer idea of something than just an image and text. So say eCommerce websites start using not only images and text but videos. Think about how much more knowledge and sense of security you’ll be able to provide customers. This is something you will see more and more eCommerce websites use this year as part of their Internet marketing strategy. You will see video introduced for their products and for their customer reviews. My guess is conversion rates will go through the roof and the ones who start using video to its full potential will be the ones leading the pack this year.

During a recession or any bad economic time customers like to be reassured that your company will be around for years to come. A lot of what’s causing customer hesitation to buy is that they are worried how financially stable the company is. With companies failing and going bankrupt left and right it makes consumers nervous. How do they know that you will be around for years to come if they need customer support or if something happens to their product before the warranty ends. When most customers make a purchase they intend on having a long-lasting relationship. This is one thing that any company or e-commerce website needs to do in order to gain consumer confidence. Bill Crutchfield Founder and CEO of Crutchfield Corporation, is doing just that.

“Our valued customers,

The international financial crisis is weighing heavily on all of us. As consumers, one factor that we all need to consider is the stability of the companies with whom we do business. In the current economic climate, many retailers will stumble and some will even fail. For that reason, I personally want to explain Crutchfield’s unique situation.

For many years, I have been concerned about the growing credit bubble. It was obvious to me that it was unsustainable and that an inevitable day of reckoning would come. To protect our customers, our employees, and my family from the disastrous consequences of a financial meltdown, I positioned Crutchfield to withstand the worst. We became very frugal with how we spent money. We did not pay outlandish executive salaries and bonuses. We did not build fancy facilities. We did not expand our retail store operations. And we did not buy other companies. Instead, we worked extremely hard to improve how we serve our customers, while we managed every aspect of our business with excellence. Furthermore, we paid off all of our debt and accumulated cash reserves.

When shopping in times like these, you need to be certain that the retailer will be around to provide you with years of after-the-sale support. We know that you expect guarantees, warranties and promises of lifetime product support to be kept when you purchase with us – and I have positioned our company to deliver without compromise on all of these important elements. As retailers go, Crutchfield is a “Rock of Gibraltar.” We have no debt, a perfect credit rating and a legacy of fiscal prudence. Therefore, we will be around to serve you as we have served millions of customers since 1974 and throughout the last four recessions.

Purchasing from Crutchfield today means you are choosing a company that will help you use and enjoy your purchase now and in the future. I hope that you’ll give Crutchfield a chance to exceed your expectations. I thank you for your time and, most importantly, for doing business with Crutchfield.

Bill Crutchfield”