by Nick Throlson | Jul 28, 2018 | E-commerce, Web Design
There are now tools available to allow any budding entrepreneurs out there to put together their own e-commerce website without the need for any prior web design skills. While this has definitely lowered the barriers to launching such a business, it has also meant that many entrepreneurs dive in to the venture before they are truly ready for it. The following common mistakes harm businesses, and ultimately their sales.
Assuming Customers Will Find You
This is known as the ?if you build it, they will come? mentality. Simply starting an e-commerce business and getting a website online isn?t going to generate you any revenue. If you want to start turning a profit, you will need to make an effort to promote your website and let other people know of its existence. There are in excess of a billion websites on the internet today, meaning that, if you don?t actively advertise your website, it?s unlikely many people will stumble across it.
Even if you have the most elegantly designed website in the world, offering the most fantastic range of products, if you don?t tell anyone your website is there, they definitely won?t come. Launching your business is only the first step. But you should be thinking about how you will promote your business before your website has launched.
Going Without a Logo
When we arrive on a business?s website for the first time, we expect to see a logo prominently displayed. But a logo is much more than an aesthetic feature; there are in fact several purposes to a logo.
Of course, brand recognition is an important part of a logo?s purpose. You want people to come to associate your logo with your business. In this way, a logo behaves like a shorthand, where when people see your logo, they will instantly think of your business.
The absence of a logo can also make your website look a lot less professional. Many businesses make the mistake of assuming that a logo needs to be professionally designed in order to be worthwhile. There is nothing wrong with a simple placeholder logo to begin with, upgrading to something a little more impressive when you have the money to spend on it. Having even a basic logo is better than having no logo at all.
If you elect to use a tool such as webeden.co.uk to build your website, your logo will be important in setting your site apart from others made using the same service. Web Eden gives users plenty of ways to customise their website, but inevitably your tastes will overlap with someone else?s, and there?s always the possibility they will be one of your competitors.
No Organic Marketing
Organic marketing refers to things like customer reviews and testimonials. These are marketing materials which are designed to look as natural as possible. Consumers are more trusting of organic marketing, because it doesn?t trigger the same self-defence mechanisms that we tend to put up when we are faced with a normal advert.
When we know that what we are looking at are marketing materials, designed to part us with our money and encourage us to buy a product, we instantly become more sceptical of any claims that are made. For example, an advert on television which tells us that a product is ?the best ever? doesn?t carry nearly as much weight as someone we know and trust telling us the same thing.
Difficult to Contact
If you have a well-designed website underpinning your e-commerce business, your customers shouldn?t run into too many problems when using it. However, it is inevitable that a customer will sooner or later either require your assistance or will have a query that needs answering. If they aren?t able to easily contact you through your website, it will reflect poorly on your business as a whole.
The simplest solution to this problem is to ensure that you either include your contact information in the footer of each page on your website, or you make a ?contact us? link clearly visible.
As you are putting your e-commerce website together, be sure to keep checking for any signs of the above mistakes. It is these mistakes more than any others that lead to e-commerce businesses underperforming, and in some cases folding completely.
by Nick Throlson | Jul 23, 2018 | E-commerce, Web Design
Counting as the middle ground amongst two open-source systems there?s a lot that CMS can do to take your website design and development smoothly. Let?s find out.
With the advancement in CMS solutions, there are a lot of different options available in the market today and Joomla is one of the best from the lot that you can use for web development services. Here are the five major things that make Joomla perfect:
Joomla Can Be Freely Accessed
Joomla can be accessed freely just like any other CMS web development. It offers the better of the two worlds; where you can garner knowledge from the developers at a Joomla development company along with add-on functionalities. However, when you hire developers for web development, you would need to pay them for the process.
Multilingual Options are Available
As the communication between the people in different countries is getting shorter day by day through the Internet, websites that can offer multiple language options have a better chance of reaching out to the audiences. Word Press is a popular example to develop CMS and to incorporate a multilingual message system. But to use this functionality, you would need to pay a certain amount. Joomla, on the other hand, offers a lot of such options right from the installation phase. You would then simply need to select an additional language with the help of which you can translate the content. Although it is a hassle-free process and you would not need to hire a Joomla? developer for setting it up.
Joomla is Best for Social Networking Sites
Joomla is probably the best CMS development option that offers the functionality of social networking. Joomla comes with social networking extensions like EasySocial, JomSocial and Community builder that is attached to the third-party templates. The brilliance of Joomla can be incurred from the fact that it can easily integrate social media extensions to your site. You would just need to hire Joomla developers to build the website if you are not trained in the same.
Read Also:-??Joomla Web Development: Fits Your Budget & Suits Your Custom Requirement
Joomla is both Simplistic and Functional
Word Press is one of the easiest CMS development solutions for website development, however, if you are creating robust and complex functionalities, then Drupal would be a better option any day. Drupal can provide to be difficult to use at first as it required knowledge of PHP and HTML along with other programming languages which leave high hopes for the developers.
When we talk about Joomla, it lies somewhere in the middle of these two development solutions. On one hand, it integrates the ease of managing, while on the other hand, it offers the power of a complex site that is managed on Drupal.
It is best for E-commerce Sites and Flexible Number of Extensions
Factors such as speed, delivery, UI, and security are considered to be crucial when you are setting up an e-commerce site. Joomla is probably perfect for this as it offers functionality, simplicity, and ability to facilitate online businesses. When you hire Joomla developers, they can use other CMS development solutions like Word Press and Drupal to create e-commerce sites, however, they require more time, effort and way too many customizations.
In comparison with other CMS like Word Press, Joomla also has far fewer extensions. There are many extensions that you can choose from when you are using Joomla which sometimes becomes a heck of a task as you have to choose among a lot of extensions. However, overall, the e-commerce sites would find Joomla the best CMS development tool during the web development phase.
by Nick Throlson | Jun 22, 2018 | E-commerce, Marketing
The Rise of the E-Commerce Industry
Introduction
E-commerce is a growing industry, and many people have found success in doing business in the industry. Because of the increasing use of internet around the world, more and more people prefer buying online than going to the physical store because it is more convenient and they feel a lot less hassle. Shopping online also gives the customers additional perks, like additional discounts and other freebies. The changing way people buy products has also ignited the curiosity of tech companies to look deep into the reason why people would buy something from the internet. A tech company had published their study, explaining how regular website visitors are converted to become a customer just because of a few things that are found on a website.
How a Visitor would become a Customer
According to the research released by a tech firm, the first thing that you should consider if you are in the e-commerce industry would be the play on words. The study found out that using the pronoun ?my? instead of the pronoun ?your? would drastically boost your sales. For example, if a visitor saw a phrase on the website saying ?begin MY free trial? versus a phrase saying ?begin YOUR free trial,? the phrase that used ?my? would have more clicks. It is because people have an idea that the item is already under their ownership, and it is an instinct that plays inside the mind commanding that the phrase with ?my? should be clicked.
The next thing that you as an online seller should take note is the emphasis on the word FREE if there are free items or services that you will give to the visitors. People like to receive gifts, and adding the word to your website would dramatically boost sales. One website, in particular, is not that popular with visitors, but when a tech and e-commerce expert suggested that the word FREE should be added in, the website?s sales rose to 18%. This would help more people who have taken on the e-commerce industry to gain more customers online, and it would pay off if more people would become interested in your website that tells them that they will be receiving something for free.
Another thing that you should consider if you are in the e-commerce industry is the assurance to the visitors that their privacy will be respected once they decided to make a purchase. It should also be noted on the website that the information given by the customers will not be sold to any third party institutions. Once customers received unwanted emails, they would start to unsubscribe from your website, and the conversion rate would start to decline, and it is terrible for the business. However, if their private information is protected, there will be a chance that more people would start doing business with you just because of the protection of their email address.
Active phrases on the buttons found in your website would also trigger visitor conversion, especially if it says GET INSTANT ACCESS instead of the generic ?submit.? People would also like to see quick actions every time they are involved in a purchase, and using descriptive words would allow them to start being curious and click on the button immediately. The word choice would depend on what your e-commerce business is all about, and a strong imagination would be crucial to execute this point.
The study also stated that you should be careful about your choice of colours. Orange would produce more sales, because of the prevalence of websites like Amazon that uses the same colour for buying things.
Another small tweaking needed in your website is the placement of the objects and elements. Changing the position of the image and the action buttons would increase the conversion rate by 5%. For example, a website that sells an overnight bag shows that the image of the product is on the left, while the action to buy is located on the right. Experts in the field of e-commerce suggested that people would tend to look into the left first just like when they read, so it is important to present the item first. This would also give them the chance to decide instantly whether to buy the product or not.
It also matters that the actions found inside the website are personalized, so words like ?chosen for you? or ?picked just for you? would make a big difference. It is also important to note that an advertisement?s design should match the website where the visitors would be redirected. If website owners would not follow this, it could make the visitor think that he or she visited the wrong website, and they might leave immediately thinking that the offer is just a scam. Make sure that the design of the advertisement and the website is similar to each other to prevent the people from leaving.
There is also a tendency for online shoppers to avoid going to a website that would show them long videos. The study found out that if someone is shown a video that is more than 90 seconds long, they tend to leave the site immediately without checking the items being sold. This is crucial, especially if you are trying to win the people to visit your website. If you think that videos would make the website more popular than you are wrong. It would only make the people go away so do not think of putting it on your website if you wanted to get more conversions. Furthermore, try different kinds of testings to keep its security breach intact. Penetration tests reveal weaknesses, thus, there are more chances for improvement. Lastly, experiment with everything. See what would work and what would not work.
Conclusion
Website operators and online sellers would only need to review their websites to change the condition of their conversion rate. Some changes are effortless, yet it would cause a drastic change in your conversion rate. It is very important for someone who is in the e-commerce industry to learn each of these pointers by heart because these things would make them successful in the career path that they have chosen.
by Nick Throlson | Jun 6, 2018 | E-commerce, WordPress
If you are planning to open an online shop but you do not want the hassle of having to build a site from scratch, then coming up with a WordPress eCommerce Store using Shopify is the best option for you.
Why Use Shopify with WordPress?
Shopify has one goal: to help anybody who wishes to set up an online store (even those without the technical knowledge) do so.
Coming up with your own online shop on WordPress can be a challenge as it requires a lot of technical skills. Shopify addresses this issue and helps you come up with an easy-to-setup and easy-to-maintain e-commerce site.
Aside from helping aspiring but less tech-savvy online shop owners, Shopify also features a lot of benefits such as a secure shopping cart, 70 payment gateways, inventory management, and various shipping options. Shopify is also available in many different languages. Shopify can also help you manage a physical store with a POS app and a reader.
If you have already had your own WordPress site, you can integrate it with Shopify so that you may enjoy its benefits while maintaining your own domain and this guide will help you do that. Otherwise, you may use Shopify?s hosting services.
Shopify is definitely a handy eCommerce solution for those who would like to engage in the selling business.
Integrating Shopify with WordPress
Get ready to make the best of Shopify and WordPress by following these steps to make these platforms work in your favor:
Step 1: Create an Account with Shopify
The first step that you should take is to create a Shopify account. Simply go to the Shopify homepage and then click the ?Get Started? button that you can find on the upper right-hand side of the page.
You are provided a free trial option so paying is not an issue now. You will be required to provide an email address, a password, and your store?s name. Give yourself some time to think of a great name for your store. Make it catchy but smart.
If you are done, simply click the button for proceeding. Fill up the other requested information about the shop and yourself. Once done, just press the button to complete the process.
Step 2: Integrate the Shopify eCommerce Plugin
Now that you have your Shopify account, it?s time to integrate it into your WordPress site.
Go to WordPress? plugin directory, then install and activate the WordPress plugin for Shopify Ecommerce. It?s that easy.
Step 3: Connect Shopify to WordPress
After having activated the Shopify WordPress plugin, a new menu item will be added to the backend of WordPress. Click on it to set up your account on Shopify. Simply input your shop?s address and then hit Connect. You can find your Shopify?s address on the browser bar while you are logged in on Shopify.
Doing this will automatically connect your WordPress site to Shopify. You will then be taken to the eCommerce platform so you may confirm the page, then you will be taken to your site so you may set up various Shopify settings.
Step 4: Add Products to your Store
Now that you have a store, you can now fill it up with your merchandise!
Simply click on the add a product button so that a product page may open. Input a title for the product and provide a product description. Don?t forget to place the price, as well as images of the product. Do this for all the products you would like to sell on your shop.
Step 5: Set up Payment and Shipping Options
As previously mentioned, there are many payment gateways that Shopify support. Some of these are Authorize.net, Paypal, and Stripe.
Shopify will use your email to sign up with Paypal Express by default. You have the option to change this email address to something else. Should you wish to make use of other payment methods, simply select them to be connected.
Afterward, you?ll need to set up your shipping options. Proceed to the Shopify settings page, then click on the ?Setup Shipping? button. On this page, you can easily set up shipping options that can be based on price and on weight. You would also be able to offer free shipping, then zones to be used for international shipping
Alternative options
The internet is a giant melting pot of information and tools for anything and everything you can think of, making it possible for determined entrepreneurs to find effective ways to earn a living even without substantial business knowledge.
If you think you have the knack to explore other e-commerce options and have the budget to play around with, you can also set-up your own e-commerce store by mastering your way through programming and creating your own platform. Building an ecommerce store is now easier, and there are tons of guides out there to help you out. Here are a few to get you started:
First Steps in Managing Your E-commerce Store
Now that you?ve set-up an e-commerce store, what?s next? Just like any other business, setting it up is just the tip of the iceberg. Making it flourish and earn money is the real challenge.
There are a number of techniques to spread the word about your e-commerce business and to attract customers into visiting your website. Shopify has a great guide on those looking for ROI in their first 30 days with their guide here. But if you have time and luxury to try out different marketing techniques, their 50-step guide on making your first sale can help you from social media to offline marketing.
by Nick Throlson | Apr 12, 2018 | Business, E-commerce, Website Security
It?s not easy getting an online store off the ground when you?re a small operation, not least because you don?t have a ready-made reputation to piggyback off and a lot of consumers are hesitant to buy stuff online when the company is not well known to them. That?s why it is so important that you are able to build trust in your eCommerce company. This is something that you should prioritize when you launch your eCommerce store.
Okay, but how do you build trust in my business? Start by doing the following:
Personalize Your Website
People trust other people, not websites. So, when you are launching your eCommerce company, be sure to give it the personal touch, perhaps by writing out your story and how you came to launch your company, and definitely by including your name and a picture of yourself, as well as a company address. This will help visitors feel more at ease when it comes to making a purchase.
Make It Simple and Secure
When designing your website you should (or have the person who?s designing your site for you) not only ensure that your website is clean and easy to use, but also that it is secure. If potential customers don?t see that reassuring lock in the address bar when they come to checkout, chances are they won?t be confident enough to make a purchase.
Make it Uniform
One very often underlooked way of building trust is consistency. If your website looks professional and it is branded in exactly the same way as your social media site, and if your emails and documents all use the same template, it will paint a more cohesive and professional image of you. The software at https://www.templafy.com/ can help you to achieve consistency in emails, slides and other documents. However, you will need to discuss your style with your web designer to ensure that your eCommerce store and other online accounts all have the same style.
Get Feedback
Of course, the best way to build trust in your eCommerce company is to get positive reviews from other people. It might, then, be worth sending out a few free samples to get the ball rolling. Send your products or offer your services to a few of the ?social media influencers at https://izea.com/2017/11/01/top-influencers-2017/ in return for a review or mention, focus on giving them a good experience and then watch the positive reviews roll in and the trust in your company grow. Also, allow reviews to be made on your site.
Mitigate Against Risk
Since many people are hesitant to buy from a new company online, it makes sense to mitigate against any perceived risks by offering a generous guarantee or no questions asked returns policy. If they know that they have nothing to lose by making a purchase they are more likely to trust you and to actually make a purchase – it?s basic common sense.
Building trust doesn?t happen overnight, but if you are consistent in your efforts and you do all of the above, it won?t be too long until people recognize your brand and associate it with quality, honesty and value.
by Nick Throlson | Mar 12, 2018 | E-commerce
By some estimates, every 1 out of 10 websites on the internet is an eCommerce site- putting its number in millions. And even if we take into account the top 1 million eCommerce websites, the top 50% sweep away 97% of the revenues. Now if you have a digital store to run, this should make two things very clear to you: 1. With so many eCommerce platforms out there, it is almost certain that whatever you are selling, there is someone else doing it as well; 2. eCommerce is a winner takes all industry and unless you are among the top, you are a failure.
Our apologies if that seemed a bit demotivating but we have a different point to make. If most of those eCommerce sites sell more or less the same products, how come a few succeed over the others? That where user experience comes into the picture. While having a wide catalog and competitive pricing are the basics, it is not the products themselves that deliver success but how consumers feel while purchasing it, is what makes the difference. That is, if you want your eCommerce business to be successful, the user experience is where you need to excel and here is how you do it:
Usability
Remember this- the easier customers find your website to use, the more they will engage. Finding a product description is as important as looking at the way it is displayed on screen. Proper indentation, spacing, font style, font size, colors and figures with labels ? all adds up to the overall aesthetics of the content. And while businesses agree that their store should be easy to use, the problem arises when it starts to conflict with the interface or aesthetic beauty, as some call it.
The solution is simple- if you have a layout that looks very good but isn?t simple to use, don?t deploy it. The best example is Amazon.com. They have all the expertise and resources to create the most beautiful site on the internet but yet choose to be more efficient. Keep all your products in neat categories, provide images with a description, provide links on images, allow express sign-in, are just a few of the small details that can make or break the mood of your potential customers.
Minimize friction
But how do you test the usability? The general rule of thumb is to look for friction, i.e clicks. You should aim to minimize the number of clicks that a user has to do to make the purchase.
While it is tough to quantify for those customers who are just browsing, it is the single most important factor for regular customers- they should be able to make the purchase without having to use their mind even once. If it takes more than 4-5 clicks from the product page to the final invoice, you need to cut down the complexity.
Feature-rich shopping cart
People are generally confused while shopping and having a shopping cart that can?t handle even the simplest of tasks like changing quantity or size, is simply off-putting and generally results in cart abandonment. That is if you want your traffic to convert, get any seasoned eCommerce development service capable of building a sophisticated shopping cart for your store.
Payment options
Most of the internet traffic comes today from mobile devices but the majority of the businesses still rely on payment methods designed for desktops. After all, it is okay to enter credit card details on a full-size keyboard but on a 5-inch screen when on the move? Not really. This is something eCommerce developers must take into account- responsive design can take you only so far. after that, it is only a mobile-first strategy that can deliver a superior experience.
As an eCommerce store, you must provide the widest possible options in terms of payment. The aim should be to not force customers to use any payment mode they haven?t used before- because people generally aren?t comfortable sharing financial details!
If you are planning to open an online shop but you do not want the hassle of having to build a site from scratch, then coming up with a WordPress eCommerce Store using 
By some estimates, every 1 out of 10 websites on the internet is an eCommerce site- putting its number in millions. And even if we take into account the top 1 million eCommerce websites, the top 50% sweep away 97% of the revenues. Now if you have a digital store to run, this should make two things very clear to you: 1. With so many eCommerce platforms out there, it is almost certain that whatever you are selling, there is someone else doing it as well; 2. eCommerce is a winner takes all industry and unless you are among the top, you are a failure.
