The following is a list of essential items you will need set-up in order to launch your store online.

• Ecommerce Software / Shopping Cart – a number of different setups exist, from turn-key operations where someone else is managing your money, product database, etc., to open source shopping carts that you set up yourself.

• Merchant Account – Online merchant services requires a specific merchant account, different from POS sales.  If you need help obtaining an account, we can help you find the best solution for your business.

• SSL – A Secure Sockets Layer Certificate is required to ensure the security of online credit card processing.

• Store Design – Ecommerce software requires its own visual design setup, usually from included templates. Further custom modification is also possible.

• Website Integration – Making your store (which could be hosted elsewhere) a visually integral part of your site.

• Product List and Data Management – A store begins when you import product information into the backend database, i.e. put something on your “shelves”. Unlike most web design firms, we can provide any and all database development, data migration and administration, data scrubbing, and other data related services.

• Product Highlighting and Specials – A store’s front page is just like a street level store window- it’s important to make good use of the space that first greets your customer’s eyes.

• SEO and Web Marketing – No store can survive long without customers. Professional Search Engine Optimization is crucial to bringing in the right customers for the right reasons. More agressive marketing strategies include Pay Per Click, banner advertising, external site product placement, and much more.

Thinking about an online store or looking to update an existing website? Call Lapdog Productions at 434-989-5480 or email candace@lapdogpro.com. We are always happy to help.

Include a clear call for action. Lay out exactly what you want the recipients to do – do you want them to call you, visit your website, or send you and email? Design the message to make that action clear and easy to follow.

Motivate with a clear and compelling offer. Offers come in all shapes and sizes: a discount, a free trial, free items…you name it. You want your prospects to say “I need to have that”.

Know your customers. Research your demographics of the current customers and develop a targeted list based on those characteristics. And don’t forget to update your list regularly.

Repetition is crucial. The more your prospects see your message, the more likely they are to buy. Also, by broadcasting your message across multiple mediums, you’ll increase your chances of piquing their interest.

Mail (and email) more than once. Too many times, businesses drop their campaign if they don’t see a great response right away. This doesn’t give you a true picture of your campaign’s potential. Remember, repetition is the key to success!

Test with small mailings. Many variables can affect the response to a mailing – the list, the offer, the price, and so forth. Try mailing only a few hundred to refine these variables before rolling out a big mailing.

Know your audience. Know your target market and don’t allow yourself to stray off course. If your target audience is wrong, even the best email will end up being deleted. Research the demographics of your current customers and develop a targeted list based on these characteristics.

Give your email a strong subject line. The content of your subject line will drive prospects to open your email, delete it, file it, or ignore it.  A poorly written headline may end up in the spam filter and never get delivered.

Provide a way to unsubscribe. People must have a quick way to remove themselves from your email list. Be sure to remove all those who unsubscribe from your list.

Test, test, and test some more. As mentioned earlier, many variables can affect the response to an email campaign. Test a variety of subject lines. See which one is not only getting opened, but also generating leads and revenue. Test different graphics, colors, and copy. And track your results. Not just opens and click-throughs, but also conversions, unsubscribes, and bounces.

Courtesy of infousa.com

Even if your office is only open from 8-5, Monday thru Friday, prospects can come to your website at their convenience 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

2. Your Website Content Can Be Changed In Just Minutes

A website is easier, cheaper and quicker to update than any other form of advertising. Its’ capacities are almost limitless which allow you to provide your potential customers with the most up-to-date information on your products, services, and specials. Updating a printed brochure can be very expensive and may take weeks to print and distribute.

3. Enhance your Company Image

For a small business, a well-designed web site adds credibility to your business and allows you to compete for customers with larger companies with more money to invest on traditional forms of advertising.

4. Reach New Markets with a Global Audience

On the Internet, you have an opportunity to reach beyond your local market and to be seen by millions across the globe. Did you ever think your company would have the possibility of doing business around the world? Well, now you can. Without a doubt, the Internet is the most cost effective way to trade nationally and internationally.

5. Improved Customer Service

By providing answers to questions on your website, sales and information requests can be processed automatically and immediately, whether someone is in the office or not. Online forms can be used to allow customers to request quotations or ask further information. Save costs by allowing users to download invoices, proposals and important documents.

6. Sell Your Products

Selling products on the internet can  reduce your expenses on a brick-n-mortar business supplement your income. Providing secure online ordering is very affordable for even the smallest businesses.

7. Promote Your Services

Millions of users are referring to the web and are using company’s websites to make major decisions when they need a specialized service. Lawyers, doctors, financial consultants, healthcare providers, massage therapists, and all service oriented businesses should let customers know that they have a choice.

8. Provides Instant Gratification

People are busy and don’t like to wait for information. Give them what they want, when they want it. If your product is suitable, offer them free samples or trials to download. This includes pictures, brochures, software, videos, Power Point slides, music and more.

9. Generate Valuable Leads

You can gather information about your customers and potential customers by using forms and surveys. Rather than going out and getting leads, let them come to you. This is a great tool for prospecting targeted customers looking to use your products and services.

10. Great Recruiting Tool

Whether you are looking for talent or posting job opportunities with your company, your website is a great recruiting tool for building your business.

Excerpt from Webeze 2006, All rights reserved.

If you are going to join a group, whether it is free or you are paying for a membership, your attendance should be consistent. Members will appreciate your commitment and you will be able to articulate often what you are looking for and how others may help you.  To this end, you should prepare an ‘elevator’ speech. A 30 to 60-second advertisement for your business. Make sure this message is clear, highlighting the services and benefits of working with you over your competitors. Be consistent with your ‘elevator’ speech.  You would be surprised how many times you need to say what you do before someone else truly understands and remembers your message. 

In addition to your elevator speech, offer members helpful information they can use. When you are known as a powerful resource to others, they are more likely to turn to you for suggestions and remember you when they have a referral who needs your service or product.

Finally, do not limit your contact with members at meetings alone. Call those who may benefit from what you do and vice versa. Express that you enjoyed meeting them, and ask if you can get together and share ideas.

Networking is an art and if you can master the craft your business will certainly gain from the experience.  Do not expect instant results. As with any other part of your marketing program, it takes time to build relationships and get results.

• The areas of highest marketing spend involve digital marketing, including website development, direct marketing (email and direct mail), and online marketing
• While tradeshow and event marketing remains as a top source of sales leads, email marketing and online marketing are reported to have better Return-on-Investment
• The most utilized social media tactics are social networks (66%) such as LinkedIn and Facebook, blogs (34%), and video sharing sites (29%)
• About two-thirds of respondents (68%) reported that their 2011 marketing budget is 5% or less of their overall revenue
• Forty percent (40%) of respondents expect their marketing budget to increase in 2012

If you want to achieve a strong online presence, you need to optimize your website for search engines for a higher exposure rate. And on that count search engine optimization or SEO is the best option if you want an easy way to obtain huge traffic on your website. However, some beginners who commit some mistakes on SEO practices. So aside from helping their website achieve huge number of visitors, those mistakes only do harm to the website. It is therefore crucial that you know the common mistakes that you should avoid.

The use of too much flash and scripts on the website

One popular mistake in SEO is the use of too many flash and other scripts in the website. Of course, it is a plus point if your website is appealing to the eye thus many website owners try to incorporate flash pages, which are not optimized for search engine to crawl. Since there is not enough content for search engine to index your first loading page, the spider will not be interested in your website. This will result to a very low page rank. If you really want to use flash in your website, it is recommended that you make up your flash page with some text and graphics that optimized correctly for the search engine.

Not maximizing what ALT tags can do for the content and the images

This is one recommendation that should not be forgotten- the need to use the ALT tags. These tags are used to describe the images that are used in the pages. Try to incorporate these tags every time images are used in the website. And when writing these ALT tags for the images, the best SEO efforts means including some of the keywords in these tags.

Keywords are considered as the foundation of search engine optimization. However, there are some who stuff their content with too many keywords. Overstuffing and using too much keyword in the resource will not help your cause. And when the spiders find out what you have been doing, then you are only courting disaster since the page ranking may be affected. Instead of keyword stuffing, a good strategy is writing good and informative resources that readers and internet users can really appreciate. At least by doing that, your site can get a return visit from the readers.

Content duplication

It is also a mistake to steal content from other websites. Take note that robots can distinguish an original content from a plagiarized one. You need to come up with good yet informative content to entice your readers to come back. Therefore, plagiarizing content is not conducive to your page ranking.

And lastly, most of the newbie SEO practitioners overlook the search engine guidelines. It is important to read and be familiar with these guidelines so as to avoid using the SEO techniques and practices that are prohibited. One of the bad or fraudulent techniques in SEO is the black hat. Consider these actions as unethical actions at least in the realm of internet and SEO. Once this is used, you may be at the risk of getting your website banned in the search engines. To put your online marketing on the right note means steering away from these common search engine optimization mistakes and traps.

When communicating with a single person or a broader market, knowing your audience and speaking their language can make a difference between success and failure. You would not address an all spanish speaking audience in english without a spanish enterpreter, would you?  The same thought process should be applied when marketing your business.  It is important to communicate with words that are easily understood and resonate your prospects needs, interests, and wants. 

While school days may be behind us, we can all still learn to communicate better. Language is an art and using it correctly is an art worth mastering.