Search engines are even more important to companies than to individuals. This is why diverse businesses make sure to implement the best search engine optimization strategy across all of their marketing platforms including their website, social media accounts (YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.), content marketing, blog posts, and voice search, to name a few. Visibility and a better ranking on search engines are the main advantages of search engine optimization for businesses. A higher ranking drives qualified traffic to websites of businesses. Increased lead generation from qualified sources instantly boosts sales for a company. This brings in revenue for companies. These advantages are assured only when a company’s SEO is managed by search engine experts. This article will cover three crucial benefits of search engine agencies in Auckland.
What Are the Advantages of a Search Engine Agency in Auckland?
The functions performed by asearch engine agency in Auckland cannot be compared to those performed by a website designer, a content creator, or a social media manager for a business. The search engine firm is a specialist in the area, which is the explanation. What should you anticipate from these professionals?
1. Best method for search engine improvement
The process of directing high-quality organic traffic from search engines to a company’s website and other marketing platforms is covered by SEO strategy. In essence, there are 12 different kinds of SEO. Each of these kinds can significantly improve the search engine visibility of your website. These include negative SEO, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, technical SEO, local SEO, international SEO, ecommerce SEO, content SEO, mobile SEO, and gray hat SEO. Your SEO strategy needs to include each of these in order to get your business website to appear on the first page of search results. Each of these kinds is incorporated by a search engine agency in Auckland into the SEO strategy created for each client. Working with them now will guarantee that your website appears on the first page of search results.
2. Outperform competitor search queries with a search engine agency in Auckland
By working with a search engine agency in Auckland, your company can also gain the advantage over its rivals’ search queries. One of this agency’s duties is to give you the precise keywords that improve your company’s exposure in search results and generate high-quality organic leads for your company. Your destiny in search engine rankings is solely determined by keywords. You have a competitive advantage over your rivals when search engine marketing firms conduct your keyword study, enabling you to beat your rivals.
3. SEO performance measurement
Measuring SEO results is a crucial aspect that every company must consider when developing their SEO strategy. Working with a search engine agency in Auckland gives you access to this advantage. This company offers simple instructions on how to assess your company’s SEO performance on your own. This will help you determine whether your investment in SEO is producing significant results or not. Your business can adapt in an informed manner in this fashion.
Conclusion
If you want your company to stand out in your sector, your nation, and the world, partnering with a search engine agency in Auckland is all that is required. Investigate them immediately and strike a deal!
When selling online, the product pages are perhaps some of the most important pages on your website. While you can wow with your homepage, about us page, and other pages on your site such as an informative business blog, the truth is that the product page is going to have one of the biggest impacts on your customers when it comes to them making the decision whether or not they want to buy from you. Because of this, improving your product pages is one of the most important things to do on a regular basis. Revisiting your product pages to ensure that they provide all the information that customers expect and are easy to use is crucial. Keep reading for some tips on how to improve your product pages.
Keep the Navigation Easy
Many eCommerce website owners focus heavily on making sure that it’s easy to navigate their site, but how easy are your product pages themselves to navigate? When designing a product page, it’s crucial to ensure that users are easily able to find their way around that page, especially if you are selling products that have a lot of specs and use different sections of the product page or a table with different tabs in order to provide users with all the information that they need on the product.
Add Reviews
While users can probably find reviews of your overall business and website online at Google and many other third-party review sites, it’s a good idea to add reviews to each product page, something that’s demonstrated well here by an online retailer focusing on bulk pricing. Adding the option for customers to leave a review on individual product pages is a great way to provide more information about the product itself, including what others think of it. Ultimately, being able to read the opinions of other customers on the specific product could be what encourages some users to add the product to their cart and buy it.
Use Product Videos
While online shopping is one of the most popular ways to buy things and it’s certainly here to stay for a long time, one of the drawbacks of shopping online is that customers do not have the chance to see the product in action, as they might if they were shopping at a retail store. While there is no way for eCommerce stores to offer the same kind of experience that they would be able to in-person, one of the best ways to get around this is to offer product videos. Videos are a great way for any product to be showcased in action, giving the customer a better idea of what to expect compared to if they were only viewing static images.
Keep Content Short and to the Point
When writing product descriptions for your product pages, it’s important to consider how much text you are using. If you are passionate about your products, it’s only natural that you might want to make sure that customers have as much information on them as possible. However, you should try to condense your product descriptions as much as possible and keep them short and to the point. Any further information, such as specifications, can be added further down the product page in a bullet point list or in a table for customers who are interested in learning more about them.
Good product pages are essential to getting more sales from your eCommerce store and turning visitors into paying customers. Regularly revisiting and improving your product pages is essential for any good eCommerce store. Keep these tips in mind if your product pages are in need of a revamp.
While it is possible to rebrand your business months or years down the line, this option can be confusing for customers — not to mention costly. After all, changing your business name may involve everything from having to update your website domain name to updating marketing across all channels to having to reprint physical media like business cards and signage.
Ideally, you’ll be able to choose a business name right off the bat you won’t have to change. Picking a timeless title from the get-go will allow you to make branding decisions that stick, cementing your company’s reputation in the minds of customers.
Here are some tips for choosing a business name able to go the distance, saving you the hassle and expense of having to rebrand down the road.
Choose a Clear & Understandable Name
Sometimes the ideas that seem like winners in our own brains fail to translate as well to the rest of the world. The result? You’ll find yourself having to continually correct confused customers. This especially includes names that are difficult to pronounce or spell.
It also pertains to clever names that involve humor or puns — be sure to test these out on audiences to make sure they land before committing. Avoid depending on any terminology or references requiring people to have an advanced level of expertise to understand, as this may push away potential clientele.
As one expert notes for Inc., having to apologize for a complicated name or explain it so that people “get it” just damages the impact of your brand.
Make Sure a Business Name Is Available
Many organizations throughout history have launched using what they felt to be the perfect business names ideas — only to find out they were already legally claimed by another entity. As Nolo explains, you’ll need to conduct a search to find out if a potential name is already trademarked within your industry.
Not only can using an existing business title lead to legal trouble, but it can also confuse customers due to cases of mistaken identity. Case in point: Your website analytics may see increased web traffic bouncing after a brief stint visiting your home page as people realize they’ve landed on the wrong company with a similar name. Similarly, your search engine results may be obscured by the other company despite your best SEO efforts.
These are frustrating situations all around — but can be avoided by doing research into company names already in existence before choosing a winner.
Consider Domain Name Possibilities
As ecommerce continues to grow and redefine doing business as usual, checking domain name possibilities for your business name ideas becomes more important before making a final decision.
Some things to keep in mind when exploring domain name availability:
Determine if you will be able to get the name you want with a .com extension, or whether it is already taken — meaning you may need to choose a different extension, like.net.
Decide if you want to buy a domain name pertaining directly to your business name or whether you want to choose a domain name made of relevant keywords.
Assess whether the name(s) you have in mind are short and understandable enough to be converted into a domain name of a few words or less.
Figure out whether your desired domain name is similar enough to other websites to cause possible confusion, as this may indicate a problem with your business name.
If you put in the time and effort to choose a winning business name the first time around, you’ll save yourself lots of headache down the line.
Fashion
is such a lucrative industry to enter in. After all, there will always be
people who are obsessed with major labels and lots of designer goods. At a very
basic level, people will always need clothes to wear. If you have a really
strong passion for fashion, it’s a great idea to parlay this into a business.
Unfortunately, there are many people who don’t believe that a person can find
success within the fashion world. It’s actually not as competitive as you
think. You just have to be intentional about finding your specific niche within
the fashion world. There are plenty of options to consider.
Vendor Sales
There are tons of vendors who sell their merchandise to different boutiques at a range of prices. In this case, you can set up an e-commerce store. You’ll want to make sure there’s a feature that handles the transactions. Consider installing a big commerce enterprise system or one that’s similar. Purchase large quantities of specific items from that vendor, and sell the items on your website. To make the items pop, it’s a great idea to hire models and host photo shoots where they are modeling the clothes in front of a backdrop. There are plenty of successful businesswomen who have served as their own model before they were able to hire someone else. It’s okay to be resourceful in the way you showcase the items. Then, you’ll want to aggressively promote the pieces on social media. Find different influencers who can model your pieces and get them in front of larger audiences. As you’re consistent with this effort, you can build a strong brand in fashion from your home.
Social
Media Influencing
If you’d
prefer to be the one in front of the camera, social media influencing is a
great option to consider. If you can collaborate with a great photographer,
this is a great option to choose. It’s also great to make sure you have a clear
sense of fashion and your own personal style. When you’re first starting out as
a social media influencer, you’ll have to build your audience. It’ll take time
before the large brands approach you about doing campaigns or sponsored posts
for them. This is why it’s important to invest in the beginning. Find ways to
build a clothing budget for each month. As you shoot in different outfits, you
can always opt to resell them online. If you choose to keep them, that’s fine
as well. However, get creative with the financing so that you’re not going into
debt while you’re creating excellent content for your followers.
You can
always choose the right of becoming a personal stylist. A lot of people would
love help with their closets. If you promote your services to the average
woman, this can help you build some traction. Consider helping women who are
looking for the best ways to dress their body after they’ve had a baby. Teach
women how to create effortless style. As you curate clothing for each woman’s
body, this will be one less thing a woman has to worry about. As a result,
you’ll be viewed as an angel that they want everyone to know about. Plus, your
work will speak for itself. Word-of-mouth marketing tends to be the best kind
because this means that other people can actually vouch for the excellence you
produce. When others recommend your services to others, this is the gift that
keeps on giving. Consider ways that you can create services for many price
points and still thrive as a stylist.
Tailoring
Tailoring
is such an incredible skill to possess. If a gentleman purchases a suit jacket
from Walmart and gives it to a tailor to take care of, the suit jacket can
easily look like it came from an Italian suit maker. Tailoring is so essential
for a polished look. This is why it’s a great idea to improve your skills as a
tailor. You can also craft unique pieces that are tailored for different body
types. If you purchase a simple jean jacket from the thrift store, transform it
into a peplum jean jacket for a woman with specific measurements. As your clients
send in their measurements to you, you can charge top dollar for the tailored
designs. You can also choose to work with local clients only. It’s up to you.
Subscription Services
Subscription
services are truly trending. Many people love the food subscription services
that allow a person to pull out the portion sizes and cook exactly what they
need. In this case, you can apply this same concept to fashion by providing a
lookbook. Craft the lookbook with interesting designs that fall under the
client’s style profile. You can include the links to the various items they can
purchase. Include your affiliate links to those specific items. If and when
they purchase an item, you’ll get a commission on top of the fee that you
charge for the subscription service.
Ecommerce is pretty competitive these days. And as with most cutthroat industries, mistakes can be fatal to sales. Examples include lack of branding, clunky checkouts, no visibility into who you are, bad customer service, and lack of community engagement.
We like to refer to these ecommerce mistakes as stinkers and sinkers. Here are a few stinkers and sinkers to avoid in your ecommerce store.
A Lack of Branding
Marketing experts say that it’s not about what you sell, but rather how you sell it. Anybody can sell T-shirts and pants online, which for shoppers means they can shop anywhere for what they want. There’s no reason to choose Store-A over Store-B beyond pricing or convenience. If this is the case, the shopper will be more likely to buy from an ecommerce giant like Amazon than a small business.
Establishing a brand identity, on the other hand, gives consumers a reason to buy from your ecommerce store specifically. Rather than just selling T-shirts and pants, your store sells “apparel for anime enthusiasts” or “athleisure for the sporty fashionista.” Both of these examples describe a style of clothing specific to a certain audience.
To unlock the power of good branding, e-stores need a strong brand name, a tagline, an attractive logo, cohesive messaging, and an alluring design. If you don’t already have a logo – or just want to update it – consider using a logo maker from Hatchful or Shopify; then match that logo style with your website design to keep everything clean and professional.
A Clunky & Cumbersome Checkout Process
One surefire way to sink your ecommerce store is a slow, confusing, or broken checkout process. This is the last step a customer takes, and for e-sellers, it’s the most important because it leads to conversions. However, if your checkout process requires users to create an account or just doesn’t work, a shopper is more likely to abandon their cart at the last second.
To prevent this from happening to you, be sure to use a hearty ecommerce platform. These services work tirelessly to ensure e-stores have the processing power to handle hundreds, or even thousands of orders at once; without slowdowns. Similarly, they standardize checkout processes (more or less) to keep things from getting too clunky and cumbersome.
If you built your checkout pages yourself, doublecheck the processes to make sure everything is easy and painless. Keep the number of pages and entry forms as low as possible; only asking for the data you need to complete the order.
Missing Essential Pages
Another ecommerce stinker is foregoing the essential pages shoppers want to see. Examples include an About Us page, a contact page, FAQ pages, sizing guides; customer review sections, and the like. Shoppers visit these pages to inform their purchases as well as ensure your e-store and its products are legitimate. Therefore, nixing these pages is a bad idea.
Providing greater visibility into your ecommerce website is essential to establishing a good relationship with your shoppers.
Poor or Lethargic Customer Service
Another ecommerce killer is poor or lethargic customer service. The internet provides consumers a quick and easy way to satisfy their needs and desires. Of course, shoppers will have questions from time to time. If your staff doesn’t field those queries quickly and accurately, your e-store could lose out on essential sales.
In that same vein, disgruntled buyers reach out to your customer service team to make things right. If your staff slacks on these interactions or just plain misses them, you risk losing a customer for life.
No Community Engagement
Research shows today’s shoppers prefer to spend their dollars with brands that give back. Consider offering your time or money to causes matching your store’s offerings. As an example, if you sell pet supplies, you can offer five percent of your profits to local animal shelters.
Awareness of these ecommerce mistakes will help you avoid committing these sinkers and stinkers.
In a competitive e-commerce space, it takes more than a previous purchase for a customer to remain loyal to your brand. More products, price points and shopping experiences exist than ever. As a result, consumer preferences shape the market.
Today’s consumers want a simple, secure, pleasant shopping experience. And when something goes wrong, they want it to be addressed quickly. Anything that falls short means the customer probably won’t return.
Already using one of the best e-commerce website builders to create your store? Experiment with the host of different free and paid apps that can enhance your store experience. Here are the five best customer support apps on Shopify.
Facebook Chat by Beeketing
Online consumers are more open to interacting via the internet than having a phone conversation. The Facebook Chat app gives stores the ability to live chat with customers via Messenger right from the Shopify store platform. The app itself installs with no coding and requires minimal resources to run. Customize your chat settings, such as color and chat icon, to raise brand awareness with customers and move them from conversation to purchase. The developer, Beeketing, offers several other apps to grow a store’s customer base.
Free
Zendesk
Zendesk is one of the premier customer support software companies, so it’s no surprise their Shopify app is so popular. Zendesk gives Shopify stores a widget to display on every store page that helps customers get in touch with support directly. The support platform itself makes customer interaction easier, as support team members have clear, customized visibility to relevant customer data. If you’ve yet to implement a successful customer support tool, a tried-and-true solution like Zendesk is bound to fill your need.
30-day free trial
$18.99/mo
AfterShip Returns Center
E-commerce return rates can exceed 30 percent depending on the product. Even slight mismanagement of the reverse logistics process can mean considerable profit margin loss. AfterShip gives e-commerce stores a branded page to streamline self-service returns and facilitate notifications to customers.
Using an app like AfterShip gives your store credibility and can help impress customers with your return experience, which makes them more likely to buy from you in the future. AfterShip offers language switching, zones and routing rules to be set, as well as the option to export return data to CSV.
5 returns = Free
20 returns = $9/mo
100 returns = $29/mo
Easy Contact Form
To become a prosperous e-commerce merchant, you must gain trust and be transparent with customers. One essential portal that always should be left open is a way for customers to get in touch at any time of day. The Easy Contact Form app isn’t just one tool, but a bundle of over 25 free and paid marketing tools. Integrate social buttons to boost your follower count, integrate custom slide boxes to promote a sale or develop a straightforward ‘Contact Us’ page with a custom background image. ‘Easy’ lives up its name by integrating your social accounts and mailing service to ensure the contacts you collect end up in your marketing touchpoints.
If every visitor who added something to a cart or a list ended up purchasing, your e-commerce store would grow like wild roses. But this isn’t reality. The internet can steal shoppers’ attention pretty quickly. And once they leave, there’s no guarantee they’re coming back. That’s where Wishlist Plus offers stores a lot of value. Wishlist+ integrates with any Shopify store theme and offers numerous API customization options to better blend into your shopping experience. Include an ‘add to Wishlist’ button on your site to capture insightful data about your customers, which can then be used to send re-engagement emails and win customers back.
100 wishlist items per/mo = Free
1,000 wishlist items per/mo = $9.99/mo
10,000 wishlist items per/mo = $29.99/mo
50,000 wishlist items per/mo = $59.99/mo
You can’t depend on new customers to fuel your store’s growth. The way to make long-term strides is to build your repeat-customer base. But the only way to do that is to provide stellar experiences. Start with one or more of the five best customer support apps on Shopify when shoring up your store’s customer service, returns process and opportunities for re-engagement.
Shopping is never-ending. You buy something, and yet you wait to buy more. But the best part of shopping is when you get to buy things at lower prices and tend to save some right amount.
Online shopping has become a significant venue for more customers inclined towards it than retail shopping. With more shopping portals covering every need, it’s like you don’t even need to step out.
What all can you buy online?
Practically,everything! Yes, online shopping now offers everything at affordable rates. From apparel to accessories, daily food items to ordering food online, electronics to gadgets; you name it, and you get it.
But one thing that has grabbed my attention while shopping online are some sleep products. You can get these products at really affordable rates. The idea that attracted me more towards these sleep products wasn’t their price, but the ease in selecting the best fit product.
Wherever you go to the market to buy mattresses or other sleep products, finding the best product from so many varieties and brands is the real challenge.
While buying online, you get to view each such variety with its detailed description. This allows making a better-informed choice with ease. Such comfort is not available in the retail market.
Image source Flickr
Guide to buy things at less price
So, now the real thing. How to buy efficiently using the online portal and save money. Well, here I will provide you tips and tricks that you can use to shop online and at best price.
Compare and buy: now this is critical to understand. Just like you shop to shop, from market to market to inquire about price and then buy, likewise, it is imperative to compare the prices of a product on every portal for the best price. Now you will think how it’s different then. Well, buying online means you don’t have to go out from shop to shop physically, it saves you time, effort and money and helps you obtain at less price.
Use coupons: there are shopping portals that give you coupons to buy products from their website. While there are sites that provide exclusive coupons that you can redeem for getting things at less price or get a particular benefit.
Wait for deals and offers: every site has sometime in the month when it gives products on sale. Such sale gives from 20%-80% discounted products. You can take advantage of such deals to buy things at low prices.
Varieties and brands: the primary benefit of buying online is you get hundreds of names and thousands of types of product to compare and sort the best one for you.
Referrals: most of the sites now provide you cash points as the reward for referring to friends or family. You can refer and earn such points to redeem them for a cash discount on your purchases. There are points that you receive when your referral also makes purchases from that website.
End of season sale: The season’s sale time is the best time to buy products you want at very less price. Like season end for winters or summers. You can also avail festive offers on thousands of products as well.
Well, I suppose emergence of e-commerce has opened new ventures for smooth and effortless shopping. You tend to save money all along the way. Like you don’t have to go out, and products are shipped to your location, so it saves your transportation cost, along with other product discounts.
One thing that e-commerce has given to every customer is access to products from different countries without the limitations of geographical boundaries. Access to international market and international products without having to go anywhere is something that has attracted buyers and sellers alike.
Buying for less is not a game or easy thing. You need to be aware of your surroundings and what is being offered to you. In such a case the portals become a natural source of such information. You get latest trends, fashion, and most recent technology, all in one place. And want all you need to get these, well a good internet connection and download shopping apps. Simple, hassle-free and effortless!
Online retail sales have experienced a massive boom in the last few years especially, exceeding £130 billion in the UK in 2016. It is a highly lucrative market with plenty of opportunities for growth, though one that is seemingly dominated by the big names such as Amazon, eBay and more. Any ecommerce website hoping to challenge them or prosper in their own niche needs to avoid the following mistakes.
Image source Flickr
Slack Security
Problem: Having a secure website is of upmost importance for any ecommerce business. There are two main areas at risk with a security breach; the finances of the business and sensitive data. Information about customers, clients and employees can be accessed if slack security is in place, losing customer confidence and creating a risky environment.
Solution: To best avoid the chances of a network or application attack, Nettitude penetration testing can reduce the risk. This identifies vulnerabilities and provides context around them, so that your ecommerce business can fix any such problems. This means you should have the best security measures in place to prevent any such security breach.
Poor Presentation
Problem: If an ecommerce site is hard to navigate then it will instantly put off potential customers. Likewise, poor presentation in terms of the layout of text, images and buy buttons will do the same. Small or no product descriptions and poor quality images further add to the problem.
Solution: Look at the competition and see what they are doing well. Think about what you like when you go to buy something online, what makes it an easy process and draws you in to buy products. This could be having plenty of images, descriptive product descriptions and an easy to understand layout.
Lack of Marketing
Problem: Nobody’s visiting your ecommerce website! This really is a problem, as you need customers to make sales and keep the business ticking over. One of the main reasons for this could be a lack of marketing for your ecommerce business, as potential customers may not be aware of it.
Solution: There are many proven ecommerce marketing strategies, from digital marketing to Google Ads. Some of the simple tasks to improve your online marketing and presence are to create and utilise social media accounts, implement an SEO plan and more.
Avoid these three mistakes and use the solutions to ensure your ecommerce business prospers.
The basic law of economics is supply and demand. When supplies are high and demand is low, so are prices. When supplies are low and demand is high, the price is too. With today’s algorithms it is now possible to determine the nature of the demand for a given item, as well as the potential supply, and set your pricing accordingly. This concept is known as demand pricing.
So, is dynamic pricing right for your ecommerce enterprise?
If you have a product everybody wants and they really can’t get it anywhere else, you can pretty much set your own price. Airlines routinely employ this strategy, which is why two passengers can be sitting side by side in a plane having paid two wildly different fares for their seats. In some cases, depending upon when they bought the ticket, a person enduring the indignities of a middle seat in coach can actually have paid more than someone blissfully sipping champagne in First Class on the exact same flight.
When you’re considering how to create an ecommerce site, dynamic pricing is one of the functionalities you’ll likely want to include. Highly successful retailers like Amazon and WalMart use it. In fact, Amazon’s prices fluctuate approximately every 10 minutes, while WalMart’s change some 50,000 times a month. In so doing, both companies have grown their sales by some 27 percent per annum.
The most commonly employed dynamic pricing strategies include:
Peak Pricing
While utility companies in particular are known for this, peak pricing can also be employed to take advantage of cultural shifts and events. Merchants can surf demand fluctuations, instituting higher prices when demand is up and lowering prices when demand wanes—or when their competitors have low inventory and raise their prices. When the Cubs won the World Series, demand for Cub-oriented merchandise was high. As the public’s attention shifted, Cubs gear became less popular. Retailers employing peak pricing strategies around these items lowered prices to clear out excess merchandise.
Time-Based Pricing
When an item is about to be superseded by a newer one, time-based pricing can be used to get rid of it. This is why the best time to buy a new car is at the end of its model year. When those shiny new 2018s roll out, the 2017s are suddenly less attractive. To get them to move, automakers will slap incentives on them to give consumers a reason to turn their heads away from the 2018s just long enough to clear the remaining stock of 2017s. This strategy can be employed by ecommerce merchants to, say, clear out last year’s flat-screens to make room for the new and improved models coming in this year.
Penetration Pricing
Got an all-new product for which demand has yet to be established? This is good time to employ a penetration pricing strategy to reward early adopters willing to give it a try. Once they’ve bought into it enough to create a buzz, you can then raise the price to whatever level the market will support. Executed well, this strategy can serve to undercut your competition and increase your market share.
Chief among the many advantages of dynamic pricing is the flexibility it gives you in terms of your pricing structure, while simultaneously allowing you to maintain control of the value of a brand. You can set a floor below which the price will never fall. This way, if you have a good with a certain cachet attached to its pricing you can still offer shoppers a deal without cheapening the product. Dynamic pricing also ensures competitors don’t undercut you. All in all, it’s a good way to go. You just have to make sure your platform will support implementation of the strategy.
You’ve decided to sell online. Congratulations. Ecommerce offers opportunities that were previously not available to entrepreneurs. However, competition for online customers is as fierce with more options available to consumers than ever before.
Ensuring that you’re able to meet your customers’ needs and requirements is paramount to standing out from your many competitors and growing your online presence. The platform you choose will play a major role in this, thus the enterprise ecommerce platform-comparison process should not be taken lightly.
Ecommerce has come a long way to meet consumer needs. As consumer needs have changed so have functionality and features of ecommerce websites. For example, you won’t find any successful ecommerce website today that’s not optimized for mobile.
So consider the following when choosing the right platform for your online business.
1. The costs
As a business owner, money will always play an important role in the decisions you make. Make sure you not only go for a platform that you can afford, but one that offers the features you need to grow. What does the pricing structure look like? What are the hosting fees, transaction fees and payment card fees? These small fees may seem inconsequential, but they add up. Shop around and compare what each platform is offering in their pricing structure and then align that to your specific website needs.
2. Setup speed
How long will it take you to go live and start making money? Some ecommerce platforms will have your store up and running in a matter of a few hours. Others may require several months to deploy your website. Development time should be considered as it determines how soon you can begin making money.
3. Level of skill required to administer website
What level of skill do you have and what level is required to administer and manage the website once it is live? If you’re not familiar with web development, choose a platform that is straightforward and easy to use. You will want to spend as little time as possible learning about features and functions in order to manage your website.
4. Speed and scalability
Speed is vital for conversions. Estimations by Fast Company show that a decrease in Amazon’s page-loading speed of one second would result in a $1.6 billion annual loss.
In considering speed, you should note that your business will not always be what it is today. If you play your cards right, your business will grow. Your needs will grow in proportion to your business. You should therefore choose a platform that will allow you to scale up when the need arises.
5. Level and availability of support
One of the benefits of fully hosted ecommerce platforms is the availability of support. However, not all ecommerce platforms offer good support.
Amazon’s Kindle tablet is rumored to cost a mere $250 – including “free” access to Amazon’s Prime film-streaming service
Poor support means that your website is likely to experience extended periods of downtime when there is a problem. This can be very costly. Amazon experienced a two-hour website crash in 2007, resulting in an estimated $3.48 million in losses.
You could lose a lot in revenue if you don’t have the right kind of support. The ecommerce platform you choose should have 24-hour support and monitoring. They should also provide assistance for scaling up to meet growth during seasonal peaks.
6. Integration and customization
What level of customization does the website allow? Can you integrate tools that you consider important for the functioning of your website? A good platform offers a high level of customization. This allows you to determine the image you present to your target audience.
The platform should also allow for integration with the following for greater flexibility: warehouse management systems, inventory, and various payment gateways.
Take your time in considering different ecommerce platforms. Ensure that the solution you choose will meet your specific requirements. Different platforms are available to meet the needs of different types of businesses. Be as thorough as possible up front and you’ll be glad once your business is growing through a platform that complements your offering.
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Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
