Outdoor Business Network » ecommerce http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog E-Commerce & Web Marketing Mon, 02 Feb 2015 16:10:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 More Marketing Thoughts http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/more-marketing-thoughts/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/more-marketing-thoughts/#comments Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:25:32 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=295 Continue reading ]]> It seems that I cannot write enough about marketing for your e-commerce store or even your simple store info page. This past month I have been asked again by several clients….”How do I market my site so I can increase traffic and ultimately get more sales?” For me it is a tried and true formula based on years of experience. I know what works and I know what doesn’t. With that said I outline the things the customer can do on their own and I also outline the paid options available to them. I usually spend more time than I should on this as most people simply have not planned for this part of their business and my comments fall on deaf ears. More often than not the client says “I don’t have time to do it myself and I don’t, won’t or can’t spend money on marketing….there must be another way………” I tell them there isn’t. Even smaller companies (1 to 3 mil/year) spend easily in the 6 figure range every year on their marketing efforts and put in a ton of time doing so too. I tell the clients who don’t believe this very simple that they will fail. I ask them why did you ask me for my help? Why did you not like my response especially given the fact that I am the expert in this industry? I always say if there is another way that was more cost effective then I would advise you of that. The bottom line is this. If you come to OBN looking for answers we absolutely have them but please don’t argue with me that there must be something else that can be done because there isn’t. Time and/or money is the only way to get it done. Look at a company like Ford Motor Company. They spend millions if not billions marketing their product/company which has HUGE brand recognition. Now don’t you think if there was a way to do this “marketing” for free that they would have figured it out by now? Even if you don’t sell online digital marketing and media is absolutely here to stay and the business who truly embrace this concept will thrive and survive. The companies who don’t will slip into the darkness. The way we did business 20 years ago is completely different than what we see successful businesses do today. So if you take a lesson from all of this please do something to market and promote your business and talking with the experts like OBN is an excellent place to start.

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Things Google loves to see on your website. http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/things-google-loves-to-see-on-your-website/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/things-google-loves-to-see-on-your-website/#comments Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:16:01 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=249 Continue reading ]]> Here is a list of some of the things Google loves to see. This is by no means all inclusive but it serves as a good guide of some things we feel are important to getting found out there in the World Wide Web. For more information on how to utilize these concepts please email or give us a call.

1) Google loves video. Video is a definitely a trend we are seeing to promote products, goods and services. Keep in mind that Google owns YouTube so that can bode well for search results
2) Google loves to see Google analytics in place and that your site is being monitored from time to time. In the e-tail world though you should be in there many times a day.
3) Google rewards real time updates through social media outlets such as Twitter and Face Book. Relevant links and keywords to your site are what is key here.
4) Google maps can be a good thing on your site too. This is particularly important when it comes to driving your target audience to a physical store location
5) Google loves a blog. This is another great way to tie in links and keywords with your site.
6) Google loves content. Not just any content but new and fresh content. Changing up a news section on your home page from time to time is a good thing. You may also want to consider adding some downloadable content perhaps in PDF format to allow users easy access to information.
7) Google loves tags. Well written keyword infused meta descriptions will serve you well when your site is being crawled for pertinent content.
8) Google loves links. Many text based links over time in a consistent manner are an important piece of the Google puzzle. Getting other reputable sites to link to yours is a huge advantage.
9) Google loves traffic. As I said in a past blog. Traffic is rewarded. Getting that traffic there in the first place is the challenge but once it is Google recognizes and rewards the effort.
10) Google likes consistency in your site. Ensure all your links go somewhere as broken links are simply put bad.

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Brick and Mortar Tips for Online Stores: Part 6 http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-tips-for-online-stores-part-6/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-tips-for-online-stores-part-6/#comments Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:36:23 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=184 Continue reading ]]> To wrap up or blog series on utilizing the values of brick and mortar retail in your online store, we are going to cover that basics of marketing your site the same way you would if you owned a storefront. Many people assume that they can simply purchase a website, get it online and then the customer will just flock there and start buying. These assumptions can lead people to failure when they do not properly market their sites or put time and money into hiring professionals to do so.

To build a successful website, marketing should be divided into two main groups. There is user-specific marketing to customers, which includes social media, e-mail marketing and original content on your site. This is important because it will build your credibility within the eyes of your customers and ensure return shopping. Marketing this way is building the image you will portray to your customers and potential shoppers. User-specific marketing has the main goal of being interactive and informative for your customers. It should include any information pages that a customer would use on your site, video clips, product reviews and any other unique content that makes the user experience on your site easier.

Then, there is the SEO/PPC marketing aspect. This marketing is in place to boost your search engine results, whether they are organic or paid. User-specific marketing is the trend in the industry right now and search engines seem to favor original content, however, to properly market your website your strategy needs to encompass both of these tactics. You want to develop a strong brand with your customers but you also need to be doing SEO and PPC marketing to reach out to new clients.

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Brick and Mortar Tips for Online Stores: Part 5 http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-tips-for-online-stores-part-5/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-tips-for-online-stores-part-5/#comments Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:33:58 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=179 Continue reading ]]> Next in our series we will go over the ways in which you can merchandise your online store to suit the needs of your customers and get their return business. Generally, retail stores change their visual merchandising once a month – sometimes more if there are specific promotions that they need to do a floor change for. This is helpful advice to online retailers, as your online store should also be re-merchandised on a regular basis.

Think of your brick and mortar store or the last time you visited a retail store. The products in the store are going to be organized and displayed in a manner that provokes the customer to shop and to buy. If it was a pet store, for example, there would be different areas for dogs and cats and fish set up so that customers would know to go to a specific part of the store to find what they are looking for. Your ecommerce site should also accomplish this by categorizing and organizing your products in a way that makes sense to you and your customers. You wouldn’t want someone to click on a link for dogs and end up with aquariums and hamster food.

Aside from organizing your products in a shopable manner, you’re going to want to update this merchandising on a regular basis. You don’t have to change your entire product arrangement every month, but you should be conscious of your featured products and specials. These things need to be updated so that customers get a sense of new and exciting offers and items when they visit your site. If you can keep a customer engaged when they come to your store, you can get their return business instead of a one-time shopper.

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Brick and Mortar Tips for Online Stores: Part 4 http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-to-online-store-tips-part-4/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-to-online-store-tips-part-4/#comments Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:41:52 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=171 Continue reading ]]> To continue with our current series on translating the values that make brick and mortar stores successful to the online arena, today we’re going to cover bounce-backs and ways to market to the customers who have already shopped with you.

In the retail world, there are several ways that stores market to their existing client base. One trick that shops use frequently is the bounce-back. This is a coupon or flier inserted right into your shopping bag after you’ve made a purchase. A bounce-back can also be a coupon or promotion printed at the bottom of a receipt that a customer receives after purchasing in the store.

The idea of a bounce-back is to get the customer to come back in a timely fashion and shop again. It can be a reminder of a holiday coming up or a promotional offer – either way, it should compel the consumer to spend more at your site.

You can create this same effect through your e-commerce site even though it is not a face-to-face transaction with the consumer. One way to do this is to send an email newsletter to all of the clients who purchased on your site within the last month. This way, you are engaging those recent customers and building a strong brand identity. If you are shipping the product and not a warehouse, you can also include a coupon in the box so that when the package arrives, the customer has incentive to shop again.

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Brick and Mortar Tips for Online Stores: Part 3 http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-tips-for-online-stores-part-3/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-tips-for-online-stores-part-3/#comments Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:55:27 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=164 Continue reading ]]> We hope you’ve enjoyed our series so far on utilizing tools from retail storefronts and bringing them to an online store. Halfway through our series, we want to direct you to two important parts of your site that should be well-written and very clear to your customers – your return policy and shipping policy.

 

The return policy is very important on a website because there is no salesperson present in your checkout process to reassure your customers about their purchases. If they can easily access and understand your return policy, it will be easier for them to purchase on-the-fence items knowing what the consequences will be if the item doesn’t work out.

The return policy should also enable you to protect yourself from any angry customers. It gives you the opportunity to build a policy that will allow you to reject unwelcomed returns. One major problem in the retail world is dealing with customers who abuse the system and expect to get their products at a discount or threaten to return them. By clearly posting your return policy, you will hopefully deter any of these falsified returns and have written documentation to protect yourself in a legal setting, should one arise.

It is also important to post your shipping policy for some of the same reasons. The shipping policy can help reassure customers who are on the edge about ordering from your website. If the customer better understands the order process and feels more comfortable with it, they are much more likely to impart with personal information through your ecommerce site.

Your shipping policy will also provide clear boundaries for yourself and you customers. Policies are in place to protect you and to protect the consumer, should there be a mishap with one of your orders. If you post your shipping policies effectively, you can help protect yourself from chargeback fraud. Part of your shipping policy should state what name will appear on a credit card statement when the customer purchases with you. This is another good measure to take in order to prevent and protect against chargebacks.

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Brick and Mortar Tips for Online Stores: Part 2 http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-tips-for-online-stores-part-2/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-tips-for-online-stores-part-2/#comments Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:25:18 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=159 Continue reading ]]> To continue with our series on applying brick and mortar ideas to your online store, this segment will cover how you can implement tools to make your online shoppers feel as though they have the same customer service that they would at your shop.

When you go to a retail store, one of the first things that will happen is a sales associate will greet you (hopefully in a friendly manner) and ask you what you are looking for or if you need help finding a specific item. The associate might also tell the customer what specials are going on or what products are currently on sale.

You can do several different things to achieve this same effect online, utilizing multiple features to recreate some of the convenience of having a sales associate to reference.

To assume the role of greeter for your web store, you can use bright banner images on your landing page to greet your customers. This will need to be friendly, informative and aesthetically interesting to engage your customers and get them to look further into your shop. Think about what you do when you visit a site for the first time. Do you give the site a chance to load fully and display all of its images? Do you read the full page before deciding to navigate further? Normally, you are going to have less than 10 seconds to get a customer hooked on your page. The landing page will serve as a greeter and hopefully will achieve this for your web store.

In addition to having great content on your landing page, having a chat feature is another wonderful way to engage your customers. A chat feature allows customer to interact with your support staff in an anonymous way (if they choose) that often times gives them a sense of security. It can help your customers who may have anxieties about talking on the phone with a sales rep as it is a digital interface.

Another tip to creating a great service element is having a properly functioning search bar. If a customer can search for a certain product within your site, it is a great tool for them in navigation. It’s almost like having a salesperson there who you can ask what isle you’ll find the product in. This feature should be user-friendly, adapting to misspellings and other factors of human error. Maybe you don’t carry a certain product online but you carry it in store. This tool should be used in the same way a sales person would be. If a customer asks for something that doesn’t exist in your store, can you offer suggestions like a salesperson would?

These simple steps, although they’ll probably take some programming work from your developers, will ensure that you don’t lose sight of customer service on your ecommerce site.

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eCommerce Fraud: Preparation and Prevention http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/ecommerce-fraud-preparation-and-prevention/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/ecommerce-fraud-preparation-and-prevention/#comments Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:38:12 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=140 Continue reading ]]>  

Fraud is common in retail, regardless of the interface used, but when it comes to the world of e-commerce, there is a greater risk of fraud for three main reasons.

First, and most important, is the fact that you are not handling the payment method. Think about it – if you walked into a gas station with a piece of paper that had all of the right credit card information on it, they still wouldn’t accept that as payment. You would need the physical card in your hand to use it. It’s different in the e-commerce arena. There is no way to be 100% certain that you are dealing with a real person or if they are using real information.

Second, you are not in charge of your merchandise throughout the entire transaction. At the gas station, the cashier decides when it is ok for you to pump the gas, but when someone is shopping online, you ship the order out in good faith, trusting your preventative measures and hoping that you didn’t just ship it out at a loss to your business.

Lastly, there are several different types of fraud that can occur in an e-commerce marketplace. You have to watch out for counterfeit credit cards and gift cards, but also you have to make sure that you aren’t being taken advantage of by chargeback fraud. The internet is a vast space that allows criminals to take unprepared shop owners by surprise.

So how can you take the proper measures and secure your site to the best of your abilities? There are actually quite a few ways that are simple and effective when it comes to preventing e-commerce fraud and fraudulent activities. Make sure that you have a procedure that you follow every time you get an order and keep it consistent. You should be checking the shipping and billing addresses and security codes or CVV2 codes on all orders. If the shipping address and billing address are different, call the customer to verify the order. These are two steps that can go a long way in preventing fraud. You can also check the email that was given with the order to see if it is from a free email site. If an order is large compared to your average dollar sale, you should be calling or emailing that customer to verify the order and be sure it was correct.

In the end, it is better to have called and double checked an order than to be at a loss. No customer who has legitimately placed an order is going to be mad at you for calling. It shows that you are offering the best customer service possible, because your costs go up if you are constantly losing money to fraud.

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Your Value Proposition http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/your-value-proposition/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/your-value-proposition/#comments Wed, 27 Jun 2012 14:14:19 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=129 Continue reading ]]> For those of you who don’t know, a value proposition should be the X factor that sets your business apart from others just like it, giving your customers a reason to shop with you. It is the mission statement of your marketing campaign. Maybe you pride yourself on exceptional customer service or perhaps you sponsor a local shelter. Whatever your business may be, it is integral to find a value proposition that will stand as a platform for your marketing success.

Developing a strong value proposition for your business is easy, but it should be treated with care. Put some effort into deciding what your value proposition should be. Look at your company from every angle and choose something that will give you a unique quality within your industry.

After you have decided what your value prop is going to be, spend a little time writing it into a concise and fluid plan. Take time to do like most writers do – edit, re-edit and then edit some more. This could be the strategy that your internet marketing adapts for the next few years. It needs to be thoughtful, honest and striking. Having a well-shaped value prop will not only increase your brand image and customer loyalty, it will give the best chance at maximizing any marketing efforts from there on out.

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Diversify Your Income http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/diversify-your-income/ http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/diversify-your-income/#comments Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:18:18 +0000 admin http://www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com/blog/?p=121 Continue reading ]]> Many online retailers have specific industry and target audiences that they work with. While it is important to establish yourself within a niche that is going to support you, there are also ways to diversify yourself from this and grow your profits accordingly. This can be done simply by exploring coincidental merchandise or services that your customers are probably already buying. The goal is to get them buying these extras from you. Here are three quick tips to diversifying your site to increase sales:

  1. Do some research on your clientele. Find out what they like and what they are already doing with that extra disposable income that they aren’t spending with you. If you sold plants, you’d sell gardening tools too, wouldn’t you? This is more than that, however. What if you developed a class in which you teach new gardeners the best practices for planting and growing? Products that you sell online don’t just have to be tangible goods. Knowledge is a hot commodity.
  2. Think outside the box. Maybe classes aren’t something that your business does now and isn’t something that is going to make you a household name, but if you made an extra few hundred dollars a month by sharing your knowledge, wouldn’t that help with the mortgage? Be creative in when it comes to boosting your income. Think about what your customers would pay for, or what you would pay for if you were shopping for a specific item. If you had just bought a new pair of binoculars for bird watching, wouldn’t it be great if there was a tour of your local parks on the best spots for bird watching to get you started?
  3. Don’t be afraid to fail. This experiment in online retail is going to take you a few times to get right. You may not see the increase you are hoping for in the first few months, but don’t let that discourage you. Understand that it takes time to get the traffic you want and in turn see the sales that you are hoping for. By diversifying yourself to encompass a customer’s needs, you are already going to be a step ahead of the competition. Think of yourself as a streamlined part of your customer’s experience. A one stop for not just only product but knowledge and community.
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