If you've been researching search engine optimization for any length of time, no doubt a couple of the terms you'd have come across regularly are keywords and keyphrases. Even if you're fairly familiar with keyword strategies, read on, you may pick up some tips and advice you haven't read before :).
What are keywords and keyphrases?
Basically they are just words and phrases that users may utilize to search on a topic via a search engine. On your site, keywords and keyphrases are the targeted terms featuring heavily in your content.
Where should I use keywords and keyphrases?
Keywords should appear in your visible content, but also in your meta-tags, page title tags and in anchor text. Anchor text optimization has become increasing popular in recent times, but it's important to note that it's only one aspect of a keyword strategy.
Another place you can add keywords is to your images. You can do this by adding the "alt" attribute to the image.
Example
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/
My recommendation is that you link images you have added "alt" text to a relevant page. Don't be tempted to engage in keyword stuffing i.e. the practice of adding multiple keywords or lengthy keyphrases to image alt tags - keep it brief.
For FrontPage users, adding alt text is very easy. Simple right mouse button click over the image and select "Picture properties". On the General tab, you'll see "text". Enter a relevant keyphrase in there.
It's also important to have a good representation of target keywords and phrases in the first paragraph of your main body text - and that's not just for search engines.
Another important strategy is to use keywords in your file names. For example, on an article such as this about keywords, a file name of keyword-tips.htm would be appropriate. File names do play a part in most major search engines' ranking algorithms.
Word Tracker offers a database of over 300 million keywords, plus powerful tools to help you target the right keywords & phrases for your site.
What is keyword saturation?
Keyword saturation is the percentage of target terms in relation to the rest the content of a page. Saturation levels do play a crucial role in the ranking of your pages
How do I determine keyword saturation?
There are varying methods, but a quick way to calculate it:
* copy and paste the contents of your page into Microsoft Word
* Go to "Tools" and select "Word count"
* Note the number of words
* Place your cursor at the top of the page
* Select "Edit" then "Find"
* Type in your keyword or phrase
* Click "Find next" continually, keeping count of each occurrence
* Then divide the number of occurrences by the total number of words.
For example, if your page content has 1000 words and there are 50 occurrences of a given keyword or phrase, then your keyword saturation on that term is:
50 divided by 1000 = .05 (5%)
This method is not totally accurate, as it doesn't take into account meta-tags and alt text, but it will give you a good indication of your saturation levels.
What is a good keyword saturation level?
There are many different opinions. If we knew the exact level, then search engines would be spammed left, right and center. Also bear in mind that each search engine's algorithm on this point would be different, and that keyphrase saturation is only one aspect of ranking calculation.
My personal opinion on keyword saturation is to aim for around 3 - 5%; but I prefer to be cautious and usually shoot for the lower end of that scale.
Is there an "over saturation" point?
Most definitely. If you use too many instances of the same keyword or phrase, this can actually decrease your rankings or have your page, possibly your site, banned. That's why I try to stick to a maximum of 5% and often lower. Better to be safe than sorry.
Optimize for multiple keywords and phrases
Another very important point is to not aim for no.1 rankings on one word keywords or the most popular key phrases for starters; you'll have a hard time doing so given all the competition - and really, there's no need to.
If you achieve good rankings on a slew of 2, 3 or even 4 semi-popular keyphrase combinations, you'll most likely do very well in terms of traffic. Search engine users are a little more savvy these days and tend to use multiple word queries in their searches to help narrow down the results as often they are disappointed with the results on the most popular terms.
This strategy is called "the long tail".
Related keywords and keyphrases and LSI
Somewhat related to addressing the long tail is the concept of LSI - Latent Semantic Indexing. LSI is being increasingly used by search engines as a way of evaluating and ranking pages. In a nutshell, LSI technology can recognize the relationships between different words and a single concept or topic. This allows content publishers more freedom in crafting their pages and also a better experience for the reader. Again, it's a case of not putting all your keyword eggs into one basket and these days you can write more naturally without it negatively impacting on your search engine rankings.
Keywords aren't just about search engines
If you design your site specifically for search engines, then you may get plenty of visitors, but your sales may be very low. Always bear in mind that you should primarily design for humans, not robots. Your marketing copy needs to be engaging, your general content interesting. All things in balance :).
How do I find good keywords and keyphrases?
One of the biggest misconceptions that site owners have is believing that they know what terms that people would search on. Some of those "killer" terms you think may be popular may in fact draw little traffic, or the wrong kind of traffic. If you're running an ecommerce site, it's also important to try and distinguish between "tire-kicker" terms and buy terms - i.e. the terms that people use that appear to convert into sales more frequently.
Free keyword search tools and strategies
A free keyword location tool is Google Insights. Type in a single keyword related to your topic or industry and you'll be presented with the number of searches on that term in recent times. More importantly you'll see other popular variations of that that term and "rising searches", searches that have experienced significant growth in a given time period, with respect to the preceding time period. With Google Insights, you can also compare search level patterns on a keyword or keyphrase across specific regions, categories, and time frames.
While Google Insights is an excellent tool; you should also do some legwork. Check the sites that you are competing with and see what terms they are targeting. This should be apparent in their content. Not only should you compare content, but also how people are linking to them; i.e. the anchor text that other sites are using for links to the competitor site. This can be determined easily via Google by using this command in the search box:
link:http://www.theirsite.com
Google will return some of the pages linking to your competitors site. Visit some of those pages and see what anchor text is being used.
Another excellent tool from Google is the Search-based Keyword Tool. Enter in a term related to your industry and it will show variations on the term in order of search popularity. The other interesting bit of information is an indication of what merchants are paying to bid on that term through Google's Adwords service. The higher the bid, the more coveted the term is.
Commercial keyword research services
The information provided by free tools and your own research is useful, but also very time consuming. You may wish to consider using a commercial service to locate keywords and phrases.
WordTracker is one of the best established and most thorough keyword selection services around. Established in 1999, WordTracker has a database of over 300 million search terms which is updated on a weekly basis.
By entering keywords into the WordTracker tool, it will return variations, how often people search on those terms, and also how many competitors use those keywords.
WordTracker allows you to find any keyword combinations that are related to your business. On each occasion that I've used it, even where I believe I have thought of every possible *popular* combination of terms, Word Tracker has always returned new possibilities. In some of those cases, the terms suggested by Word Tracker have converted into many hundreds of sales -it's really an invaluable tool.
WordTracker has some other great features as well. You can organize your various topics into keyword projects, complete with campaign information. You can import and export lists in easy to handle formats - great for Pay Per Click campaigns. Word Tracker also offers a free trial so you can ascertain if it suits your needs.
Buy vs. browse keywords
If you're running an ecommerce site, you'll want to focus on keywords and phrases that actually convert to sales. It's great to have thousands of visitors arriving at your site, but if they aren't purchasing, then it's not worth the bandwidth.
Your well-established competitors will give you some clues as to what are good paying keywords, but even just starting out with "buy keyword", "discount keyword", "cheap keyword" is a good start; but bear in mind "the long tail" strategy I mentioned earlier.
Need to learn about search engine ranking and optimization strategies, without having to spend months in research? More than just a book; this is one of the most comprehensive training programs published including the book, added tools, videos and a members only forum - SEO BOOK
Keyword do's and don'ts summary
* Target relevant keywords and phrases
* Focus on 2, 3 and 4 word keyphrases initially
* Place keywords in content, tags and image alt text
* Link images to relevant pages
* Use relevant anchor text, but mix it up a little
* Ensure keywords are in the first paragraph of text
* Research competitors, both in their content and sites linking to them
* Use keyword tools for brainstorming and combinations you may not have thought of
Another couple of important points :
Give your new keywords time, then tweak
If you make a stack of changes, let them sit for a month before changing them again as it may take that long for the major search engines to pick up on the changes. When you do make changes after that, tweak your pages slowly and keep notes on the changes. It will be easier for you to determine what is working and what isn't.
Copyright applies to keywords
Researching your competitors is a good strategy, but don't lift content straight from their pages or copy their keyword meta-tag statements - you may find yourself at the wrong end of a copyright lawsuit. Use their methods as a guide, not a template.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Payment Gateways, Internet Merchant Accounts and 3rd party credit card processors
Merchant accounts, payment gateways, shopping carts - it all gets pretty confusing when you start looking into the various aspects of ecommerce.
In our previous articles, we examined points to consider in setting up your ecommerce site and also hints and tips on choosing shopping carts.
Let's briefly recap the nuts and bolts of the process of online sales using credit cards.
1. Customer visits your site
2. Customer clicks on a "buy me" button after reviewing sales copy
3. The selection is added to the shopping cart.
4. Once at the 'checkout', the customers' personal and financial details are recorded via a secure form - well, it should be secure anyway :).
5. Details submitted from the form are transmitted to a payment gateway service, which is separate to the cart. The gateway service securely routes the information through the relevant financial networks.
6. If the transaction is successful, the customers' credit card account is debited and your merchant account is credited.
7. Once all funds have cleared, you are then able to transfer money to your ordinary business checking account.
Payment gateways
A payment gateway is a separate service and acts as an intermediary between the merchants' shopping cart and all the financial networks involved with the transaction, including the customers' credit card issuer and your merchant account. Think of it as a EFTPOS terminal in cyberspace. It checks for validity, encrypts transaction details, ensures they are sent to the correct destination and then decrypts the responses which are sent back to the shopping cart.
This is a seamless process and your customer does not directly interact with the gateway; as data is forwarded to the gateway via your shopping cart and a secure (SSL) connection. The shopping cart is configured via plugins to send information in a format that is acceptable to the particular gateway.
The proper choice of payment gateway is another vital element which will contribute to your success or failure as an online business.
Payment gateway issues
As with any other ecommerce element, shop around, compare prices and read the fine print. Here are some of the major points to consider when selecting a payment gateway service.
Gateway compatibility
If you have already purchased a shopping cart package, ensure that the payment gateway service is compatible. If a service is not listed, contact the shopping cart vendor for clarification. Many shopping cart software companies are happy to support other payment gateway services if there is a demand for it, and usually at no extra cost.
If you haven't yet selected a shopping cart, get a list of supported applications from the payment gateway service provider. A payment gateway may offer great pricing, but if the range of shopping carts or storefront software it supports is limited, the whole process of setting up for taking online payments may cost a lot more than you think. I've noticed some gateways only support horribly expensive and restrictive shopping cart software packages and services.
AVS protection
Ensure the gateway at least offers AVS protection. The Address Verification System (AVS) AVS decreases the incidence of accepting fraudulent transactions by verifying the cardholder's billing address with the card issuer. Using AVS on your transactions may also benefit you by a reduction in fees charged by your Merchant Bank.
Check to see what other types of transaction protection are offered to you as a merchant. These will probably be 'premium' services, the charges added to the basic servicing fees, but dependent on your products may be absolutely necessary. If you are engaged in the sale of anything that is youth or technology oriented, it's probably a wise move to pay for the extra service as chargeback rates on fraudulent transactions can cost you around US$30-$60 per incident! Learn more about reducing credit card fraud in my article on credit card fraud Screening
Internet merchant accounts and third party credit card processors.
Some type of Internet merchant account is necessary in order to have a place to receive funds from credit card sales.
Internet merchant accounts can be gained from most major banks. A word of warning - your bank will more than likely charge like a wounded bull for such an account because of the "risk" involved.
You're probably better off utilizing the services of companies such as Merchant Warehouse, Instamerchant, Durango Merchant Services or Merchant Express who specialize in ecommerce and can tailor a merchant account/payment gateway solution to suit your needs.
Merchant Warehouse
Since 1998, Merchant Warehouse has been around since 1998 and has an excellent reputation as being one of the largest, most reputable merchant service providers in the payment processing. With over 50,000 accounts to its credit, Merchant Warehouse has enabled online businesses across the USA to accept credit card payments by offering the excellent deals on merchant processing solutions and by providing a high standard of service and support. I've dealt with them a few times over the years in connection with other companies and have always found them to be quite attentive.
InstaMerchant
Instamerchant is definitely another interesting proposition for the following reasons:
1. Name recognition. Instamerchant represents Cardservice, one of the largest brands in the entire industry.
2. Stability. Cardservice is a wholly owned subsidiary of FDC and processes over $15 billion a year.
3. Instant approvals. A true online application that runs the credit check in real time and tells the merchant if they have been approved instantly. Instamerchant can have you up and running before many other companies would have contacted you.
4. Full disclosure of all fees in clear manner manner - no nasty shocks or fine print.
5. Customer support 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
6. Cardservice owns the LinkPoint gateway - allows you to consolidate merchant account and gateway with a single provider.
7. According to Instamerchant proprietor, Dave Standage, they actually *do* approve 98% of all applications. I've known Dave for quite a while, and if he says they do, well.. they do :).
8. Instamerchant is currently offering Taming the Beast visitors very special deals!
Another option may be to use a third party processing service such as Paypal, 2Checkout or ClickBank. These three services are basically a payment gateway and merchant account rolled into one and operated by the same company. In the case of ClickBank they also offer affiliate program features at no extra cost and all three also provide recurring billing services for subscription and premium membership services. These companies are also non-USA merchant friendly..
Selecting an Internet merchant account provider or third party processor:
Shop around and then shop around some more - this is a very confusing section of ecommerce. If you make enquiries with a company and they don't respond within 24 hours, or are somewhat vague in their responses - run like hell away from them. Banks are notorious for utilizing poorly trained salespeople rather than those with hands-on product knowledge or an understanding the complexities of ecommerce. Ensure they explain all charges to you thoroughly by enquiring about the following rates:
* Statement - the charge each month for issuing you statements on all transactions
* Application fee - some institutions will charge you for the privilege of applying for an account, regardless of whether your application is successful or not.
* Setup fee - once your application has been approved, there may be other fees associated with establishing the account.
* Discount Rate - a percentage deducted for each product sold. Also known as the Discount qualified rate
* Mid-qualified and Non-Qualified rate. A higher rate for transactions that don't qualify for the discount rate. Usually applied in circumstances where AVS is not checked or the card is keyed in by the merchant.
* Transaction fee - added to the discount rate, a flat rate on each transaction
* Monthly Minimum - what you will be charge regardless of the level of sales each month
* Reserve - some providers require you to maintain a certain level in the account to cover chargeback fees.
* Chargeback - the killer fee which may cost you up to US$30 per fraudulent transaction (which includes any client disputing a transaction successfully).
Need micropayment support?
Merchants with products costing just a couple of dollars are at a distinct disadvantage, with transaction fees gobbling up profit margins for micropayments. Paypal has implemented a new micropayment fee structure for payments under $2. The rate is 5 percent plus 5 cents per transaction.
New online business?
If you are a new business with an untested product range, consider using a well established third party credit card processor such as Paypal, 2Checkout or ClickBank while you test the waters, which will incorporate a payment gateway with a merchant account. Although their transaction rates are a little high, neither charge monthly fees, chargebacks or any of the other fees mentioned above. or ClickBank, Paypal and 2Checkout also incorporate shopping cart applications and other free tools as part of the deal.
Rushed decisions in choosing your ecommerce applications, elements and third party services will dramatically increase the likelihood of your business failure. This is definitely an area where if you spend the time fully investigating all the options open to you - you'll reap the rewards after implementation.
In our previous articles, we examined points to consider in setting up your ecommerce site and also hints and tips on choosing shopping carts.
Let's briefly recap the nuts and bolts of the process of online sales using credit cards.
1. Customer visits your site
2. Customer clicks on a "buy me" button after reviewing sales copy
3. The selection is added to the shopping cart.
4. Once at the 'checkout', the customers' personal and financial details are recorded via a secure form - well, it should be secure anyway :).
5. Details submitted from the form are transmitted to a payment gateway service, which is separate to the cart. The gateway service securely routes the information through the relevant financial networks.
6. If the transaction is successful, the customers' credit card account is debited and your merchant account is credited.
7. Once all funds have cleared, you are then able to transfer money to your ordinary business checking account.
Payment gateways
A payment gateway is a separate service and acts as an intermediary between the merchants' shopping cart and all the financial networks involved with the transaction, including the customers' credit card issuer and your merchant account. Think of it as a EFTPOS terminal in cyberspace. It checks for validity, encrypts transaction details, ensures they are sent to the correct destination and then decrypts the responses which are sent back to the shopping cart.
This is a seamless process and your customer does not directly interact with the gateway; as data is forwarded to the gateway via your shopping cart and a secure (SSL) connection. The shopping cart is configured via plugins to send information in a format that is acceptable to the particular gateway.
The proper choice of payment gateway is another vital element which will contribute to your success or failure as an online business.
Payment gateway issues
As with any other ecommerce element, shop around, compare prices and read the fine print. Here are some of the major points to consider when selecting a payment gateway service.
Gateway compatibility
If you have already purchased a shopping cart package, ensure that the payment gateway service is compatible. If a service is not listed, contact the shopping cart vendor for clarification. Many shopping cart software companies are happy to support other payment gateway services if there is a demand for it, and usually at no extra cost.
If you haven't yet selected a shopping cart, get a list of supported applications from the payment gateway service provider. A payment gateway may offer great pricing, but if the range of shopping carts or storefront software it supports is limited, the whole process of setting up for taking online payments may cost a lot more than you think. I've noticed some gateways only support horribly expensive and restrictive shopping cart software packages and services.
AVS protection
Ensure the gateway at least offers AVS protection. The Address Verification System (AVS) AVS decreases the incidence of accepting fraudulent transactions by verifying the cardholder's billing address with the card issuer. Using AVS on your transactions may also benefit you by a reduction in fees charged by your Merchant Bank.
Check to see what other types of transaction protection are offered to you as a merchant. These will probably be 'premium' services, the charges added to the basic servicing fees, but dependent on your products may be absolutely necessary. If you are engaged in the sale of anything that is youth or technology oriented, it's probably a wise move to pay for the extra service as chargeback rates on fraudulent transactions can cost you around US$30-$60 per incident! Learn more about reducing credit card fraud in my article on credit card fraud Screening
Internet merchant accounts and third party credit card processors.
Some type of Internet merchant account is necessary in order to have a place to receive funds from credit card sales.
Internet merchant accounts can be gained from most major banks. A word of warning - your bank will more than likely charge like a wounded bull for such an account because of the "risk" involved.
You're probably better off utilizing the services of companies such as Merchant Warehouse, Instamerchant, Durango Merchant Services or Merchant Express who specialize in ecommerce and can tailor a merchant account/payment gateway solution to suit your needs.
Merchant Warehouse
Since 1998, Merchant Warehouse has been around since 1998 and has an excellent reputation as being one of the largest, most reputable merchant service providers in the payment processing. With over 50,000 accounts to its credit, Merchant Warehouse has enabled online businesses across the USA to accept credit card payments by offering the excellent deals on merchant processing solutions and by providing a high standard of service and support. I've dealt with them a few times over the years in connection with other companies and have always found them to be quite attentive.
InstaMerchant
Instamerchant is definitely another interesting proposition for the following reasons:
1. Name recognition. Instamerchant represents Cardservice, one of the largest brands in the entire industry.
2. Stability. Cardservice is a wholly owned subsidiary of FDC and processes over $15 billion a year.
3. Instant approvals. A true online application that runs the credit check in real time and tells the merchant if they have been approved instantly. Instamerchant can have you up and running before many other companies would have contacted you.
4. Full disclosure of all fees in clear manner manner - no nasty shocks or fine print.
5. Customer support 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
6. Cardservice owns the LinkPoint gateway - allows you to consolidate merchant account and gateway with a single provider.
7. According to Instamerchant proprietor, Dave Standage, they actually *do* approve 98% of all applications. I've known Dave for quite a while, and if he says they do, well.. they do :).
8. Instamerchant is currently offering Taming the Beast visitors very special deals!
Another option may be to use a third party processing service such as Paypal, 2Checkout or ClickBank. These three services are basically a payment gateway and merchant account rolled into one and operated by the same company. In the case of ClickBank they also offer affiliate program features at no extra cost and all three also provide recurring billing services for subscription and premium membership services. These companies are also non-USA merchant friendly..
Selecting an Internet merchant account provider or third party processor:
Shop around and then shop around some more - this is a very confusing section of ecommerce. If you make enquiries with a company and they don't respond within 24 hours, or are somewhat vague in their responses - run like hell away from them. Banks are notorious for utilizing poorly trained salespeople rather than those with hands-on product knowledge or an understanding the complexities of ecommerce. Ensure they explain all charges to you thoroughly by enquiring about the following rates:
* Statement - the charge each month for issuing you statements on all transactions
* Application fee - some institutions will charge you for the privilege of applying for an account, regardless of whether your application is successful or not.
* Setup fee - once your application has been approved, there may be other fees associated with establishing the account.
* Discount Rate - a percentage deducted for each product sold. Also known as the Discount qualified rate
* Mid-qualified and Non-Qualified rate. A higher rate for transactions that don't qualify for the discount rate. Usually applied in circumstances where AVS is not checked or the card is keyed in by the merchant.
* Transaction fee - added to the discount rate, a flat rate on each transaction
* Monthly Minimum - what you will be charge regardless of the level of sales each month
* Reserve - some providers require you to maintain a certain level in the account to cover chargeback fees.
* Chargeback - the killer fee which may cost you up to US$30 per fraudulent transaction (which includes any client disputing a transaction successfully).
Need micropayment support?
Merchants with products costing just a couple of dollars are at a distinct disadvantage, with transaction fees gobbling up profit margins for micropayments. Paypal has implemented a new micropayment fee structure for payments under $2. The rate is 5 percent plus 5 cents per transaction.
New online business?
If you are a new business with an untested product range, consider using a well established third party credit card processor such as Paypal, 2Checkout or ClickBank while you test the waters, which will incorporate a payment gateway with a merchant account. Although their transaction rates are a little high, neither charge monthly fees, chargebacks or any of the other fees mentioned above. or ClickBank, Paypal and 2Checkout also incorporate shopping cart applications and other free tools as part of the deal.
Rushed decisions in choosing your ecommerce applications, elements and third party services will dramatically increase the likelihood of your business failure. This is definitely an area where if you spend the time fully investigating all the options open to you - you'll reap the rewards after implementation.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Shopping carts & ecommerce software solutions guide
Choosing the best shopping cart solution for your launch into ecommerce is critical to the success of your online business. If you're wanting to learn more about this sometimes confusing world, this guide will explain the points you should consider before purchasing a cart.
What is a shopping cart?
In a basic definition, it's a series of scripts that keep track of items a visitor picks to buy from your site until they proceed to the "checkout".
A popular misconception is that shopping carts handle the whole financial transaction, but they only really act as a front end which passes information via a secure connection (another service) to a payment gateway - a separate service altogether.
The payment gateway service then channels the requests and transfers throughout relevant financial networks, including the Internet merchant account with your bank. It then sends back confirmation or denial back to the shopping cart software. For further information on the "back-end" aspects of ecommerce;
The good news is that there are literally hundreds of shopping cart packages available. The bad news is the same as the good. Sometimes, too many choices make it very difficult to make a decision - especially when all companies claim to have the superior product. After having worked with or examined over a hundred different shopping cart applications over the years, I hope this article may make your life just a little bit easier!
Free or premium shopping carts?
It's very important before you begin reviewing software and services to be to be very specific in what you actually want the cart to be able to do. It may be that you really don't require all the bells and buzzers offered by high end packages - if this is the case, then a good package will cost around the $US250 - $300 mark; with some excellent, and in my opinion, crucial features included at the high end of that range. Some companies offer free shopping carts, but bear in mind that nothing in this world is truly free - read the fine print.
Be careful not to limit yourself either - you may only want limited features initially, but what about in the future? Give yourself room to grow as having to change software mid-stream to a totally different package can be a real time-sucker.
Free ecommerce solutions
One of the best free ecommerce solutions around is Paypal, which integrates basic shopping cart functions with a payment gateway and merchant account - funds are paid to you via check or through direct deposit.Paypal is an excellent way to begin in ecommerce and is very widely accepted around the world.
You only pay a small percentage of each sale and there are no monthly fees or setup costs, plus you receive free fraud protection - no chargeback fees to worry about. Paypal also offers web developers a wide variety of easy to use tools to assist with rapid implementation.
What other features do shopping carts have?
Shopping cart software has come a long way in recent years, and many packages are so advanced that they are in effect entire store fronts and can actually be your entire web site. Some integrated elements of benefit to your online business you may wish to consider include:
Suggest sell/cross selling functions
Just as in the physical world, impulse buying via the Internet is quite common. Some shopping carts will suggest another product to complement a customers current selection. If offered at a discount rate, this strategy proves quite successful.
Quantity discounts/coupons
Many shopping carts now allow for the calculation of discount rates based on the number of units a customer wishes to purchase. Coupon functions allow you to issue special offers as part of your marketing campaigns. Usually, prospective clients are given special codes that are matched against a particular item or overall discount rate. I strongly recommend using a shopping cart that supports coupons; it's such a powerful sales strategy.
Autoresponder and newsletter functions
If you follow up all your clients with regular email offers, you may want to consider shopping cart software that has integrated autoresponder and newsletter capabilities - this will streamline your operations and can be used for maintaining other contact lists as well. Why buy two pieces of software when you can get them rolled into one?
Affiliate modules
One of the most effective, low cost ways to advertise your product is through an affiliate program. Your outlay is minimal if you only pay on performance; i.e. sales generated. An affiliate module can handle the signup process, provide statistics, streamline communications and keep track of payments to be made to affiliates.
Other features commonly incorporated into carts include inventory tracking, sales tax calculation, stationery creation/management, reviews and wish lists.
There's a number of questions you'll want to ask yourself when compiling a shopping cart wish list:
What kind of shopping cart does my hosting service support?
Shopping cart scripts are written in many different coding formats - PERL, PHP, ASP just to name a few. Be sure to check with your host before purchasing a program. If you opt for a remotely hosted service (explained in more detail below), then it won't matter what programming language the cart software is written in.
What is my budget?
It's easy to blow your budget on a turbo-charged shopping cart only to find that there were a number of other critical items you didn't factor in - like a payment gateway, or the fact that the cart software may be so complex that you need to hire somebody else to assist in implementation!
What kind of delivery mechanisms will I require?
If you are selling hard goods that need shipping, choice of cart is a little easier as this is a standard function. Many carts also offer customers the ability to calculate different shipping options and to get live quotes back from shipping companies.
If you are trading in soft goods such as software and want to make delivery available online immediately, you'll need to carefully compare carts.
As an example, some shopping carts that are capable of delivering goods online redirect customers to a static download page after a successful transaction. This isn't a good idea as the customer (and his/her friends) are able to return to the page to download again and again. A better equipped shopping cart will only provide customers with a temporary URL, that will be unique to that customer and may only be available for a few hours after purchase before it is deleted.
Another strategy employed by some carts for soft goods online delivery is to use a static URL for downloading, but scripting is implemented to ensure the visitor to the page has come via the shopping cart after a successful transaction has occurred.
Yet another soft goods delivery means used by carts is that the software is attached to an email sent to the customer after a successful transaction. This may be suitable for very small files, but I don't think many ISP's would appreciate you sending 20 megabyte attachments to a customers inbox - in fact, it would not be possible in many instances.
Where will my business be in 6 months time?
Does the package allow for scalability? While you may not require bells and buzzers now, as your business grows you may find that your needs change. The better shopping carts are in a modular format which allow for scalability with minimum downtime. Be sure to check the prices of modules you may need in the future. It isn't uncommon for companies is to offer the base model for next to nothing and then to charge like wounded bulls for any upgrades.
Is the cart software compatible with my payment gateway?
There are dozens of different payment gateways which plug into various shopping cart packages - but perhaps not yours! Before purchasing your cart, also review gateway services supported by the software (and also make sure that the payment gateway is compatible with the Internet merchant account you have with your bank). It can be a bit of a challenge getting the cart you want to talk to the gateway service you want and also to your bank!
What kind of payments are supported by the cart?
Credit card transactions are now a normal part of our online world. If your shopping cart software does not support credit card transactions or if you have not enabled credit card processing, you're in trouble - you may as well just close up shop!
There are still some customers who will refuse to use a credit card over the Internet, so you will need to be able to offer other forms of payment - e.g. money orders, echecks etc.
What about disaster planning?
A good shopping cart application will have excellent support for backing up files and allowing for export into a variety of formats. Flexible exporting functions will also be of value in the future should you need to change carts and wish to import existing data into a new application.
What level of support will I need and receive?
All shopping cart providers will tell you that their software is simple to install and configure. Few will be actually correct in making that statement. If you don't have the technical expertise to configure your shopping cart, get quotes from the company or a third party contractor to undertake this work for you.
Test out the support system by sending a query to the sales department - if they don't respond quickly this is usually a good indicator that after sales support will be even worse!
Also, read the fine print before parting with your hard earned cash - you may find that technical support will be charged out per incident.
Some shopping cart software companies also offer user forums as part of their service. This is an excellent bonus. If you are having problems with setting up your scripts, no doubt someone else has experienced the same issues and may be willing to help you out.
Be sure to review the company's "bug" policy; i.e. if a error in the software is fixed and an updated version is released, will you be entitled to recieve that upgrade or patch at no cost.
While I am all for supporting the solo programmers, a shopping cart is so crucial that it may not be wise to purchase a product from a one-man operation as customer support may not be efficient.
Remotely or locally hosted shopping cart?
Some shopping cart programs can be purchased as stand alone programs or as pay per month services hosted on another companies' server. Remotely hosted options usually allow for extensive customization of pages to fit in with your sites look and feel.
Remote hosting advantages
Fast implementation, secure connection supplied, monitoring of service and usually many other features are offered as part of the service. Because the cart is actually hosted on another server, you can also save on bandwidth charges - especially if your products are soft goods and delivered online.
Some remotely hosted shopping carts are in effect total marketing solutions, containing options to run affiliate programs and the ability to send sequential pre-defined messages to clients and leads. Some of these services are excellent for people 'testing the water' as they also include gateway services and even an Internet merchant account!
If you are looking for features without needing to spending thousands of dollars up front, remotely hosted may be the way to go. Plan on spending at least US$60 per month for these kinds of services. Compare prices carefully - I have seen one company charge US$200 a month for the same service provided by another for $US59 per month. Remember, this added recurring expense will need to be taken into account when establishing a price level for your products and services.
Remote hosting disadvantages
What happens if the company goes belly up overnight? Remote hosting also tends to give you less control over how cart pages display. If you are going to use a remotely hosted service, check the company history carefully. Some operators have also been known to 'harvest' your client databases for spamming purposes.
Local hosting advantages
Total control over the software, no ongoing fees.
Local hosting disadvantages
Time spent in installation, configuration and maintenance, greater initial outlay, requires SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to be enabled on your site which usually incurs an extra charge per month.
As you can see, there is a lot to consider before purchasing shopping cart software or services. It is very important to remember that the shopping cart is only one part of your ecommerce arsenal. Without an effective payment gateway and Internet merchant account (sometimes these are combined), the cart is useless.
Don't rush your decision to purchase based on marketing hype - the future of your business is at stake!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Payment Gateways, Internet Merchant Accounts and 3rd party credit card processors
Merchant accounts, payment gateways, shopping carts - it all gets pretty confusing when you start looking into the various aspects of ecommerce.
In our previous articles, we examined points to consider in setting up your ecommerce site and also hints and tips on choosing shopping carts.
credit card processing and merchant accounts
Let's briefly recap the nuts and bolts of the process of online sales using credit cards.
1. Customer visits your site
2. Customer clicks on a "buy me" button after reviewing sales copy
3. The selection is added to the shopping cart.
4. Once at the 'checkout', the customers' personal and financial details are recorded via a secure form - well, it should be secure anyway :).
5. Details submitted from the form are transmitted to a payment gateway service, which is separate to the cart. The gateway service securely routes the information through the relevant financial networks.
6. If the transaction is successful, the customers' credit card account is debited and your merchant account is credited.
7. Once all funds have cleared, you are then able to transfer money to your ordinary business checking account.
Payment gateways
A payment gateway is a separate service and acts as an intermediary between the merchants' shopping cart and all the financial networks involved with the transaction, including the customers' credit card issuer and your merchant account. Think of it as a EFTPOS terminal in cyberspace. It checks for validity, encrypts transaction details, ensures they are sent to the correct destination and then decrypts the responses which are sent back to the shopping cart.
This is a seamless process and your customer does not directly interact with the gateway; as data is forwarded to the gateway via your shopping cart and a secure (SSL) connection. The shopping cart is configured via plugins to send information in a format that is acceptable to the particular gateway.
The proper choice of payment gateway is another vital element which will contribute to your success or failure as an online business.
Payment gateway issues
As with any other ecommerce element, shop around, compare prices and read the fine print. Here are some of the major points to consider when selecting a payment gateway service.
Gateway compatibility
If you have already purchased a shopping cart package, ensure that the payment gateway service is compatible. If a service is not listed, contact the shopping cart vendor for clarification. Many shopping cart software companies are happy to support other payment gateway services if there is a demand for it, and usually at no extra cost.
If you haven't yet selected a shopping cart, get a list of supported applications from the payment gateway service provider. A payment gateway may offer great pricing, but if the range of shopping carts or storefront software it supports is limited, the whole process of setting up for taking online payments may cost a lot more than you think. I've noticed some gateways only support horribly expensive and restrictive shopping cart software packages and services.
AVS protection
Ensure the gateway at least offers AVS protection. The Address Verification System (AVS) AVS decreases the incidence of accepting fraudulent transactions by verifying the cardholder's billing address with the card issuer. Using AVS on your transactions may also benefit you by a reduction in fees charged by your Merchant Bank.
Check to see what other types of transaction protection are offered to you as a merchant. These will probably be 'premium' services, the charges added to the basic servicing fees, but dependent on your products may be absolutely necessary. If you are engaged in the sale of anything that is youth or technology oriented, it's probably a wise move to pay for the extra service as chargeback rates on fraudulent transactions can cost you around US$30-$60 per incident! Learn more about reducing credit card fraud in my article on credit card fraud Screening
Internet merchant accounts and third party credit card processors.
Some type of Internet merchant account is necessary in order to have a place to receive funds from credit card sales.
Internet merchant accounts can be gained from most major banks. A word of warning - your bank will more than likely charge like a wounded bull for such an account because of the "risk" involved.
You're probably better off utilizing the services of companies such as Merchant Warehouse, Instamerchant, Durango Merchant Services or Merchant Express who specialize in ecommerce and can tailor a merchant account/payment gateway solution to suit your needs.
Merchant Warehouse
Since 1998, Merchant Warehouse has been around since 1998 and has an excellent reputation as being one of the largest, most reputable merchant service providers in the payment processing. With over 50,000 accounts to its credit, Merchant Warehouse has enabled online businesses across the USA to accept credit card payments by offering the excellent deals on merchant processing solutions and by providing a high standard of service and support. I've dealt with them a few times over the years in connection with other companies and have always found them to be quite attentive.
InstaMerchant
Instamerchant is definitely another interesting proposition for the following reasons:
1. Name recognition. Instamerchant represents Cardservice, one of the largest brands in the entire industry.
2. Stability. Cardservice is a wholly owned subsidiary of FDC and processes over $15 billion a year.
3. Instant approvals. A true online application that runs the credit check in real time and tells the merchant if they have been approved instantly. Instamerchant can have you up and running before many other companies would have contacted you.
4. Full disclosure of all fees in clear manner manner - no nasty shocks or fine print.
5. Customer support 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
6. Cardservice owns the LinkPoint gateway - allows you to consolidate merchant account and gateway with a single provider.
7. According to Instamerchant proprietor, Dave Standage, they actually *do* approve 98% of all applications. I've known Dave for quite a while, and if he says they do, well.. they do :).
8. Instamerchant is currently offering Taming the Beast visitors very special deals!
Another option may be to use a third party processing service such as Paypal, 2Checkout or ClickBank. These three services are basically a payment gateway and merchant account rolled into one and operated by the same company. In the case of ClickBank they also offer affiliate program features at no extra cost and all three also provide recurring billing services for subscription and premium membership services. These companies are also non-USA merchant friendly..
Selecting an Internet merchant account provider or third party processor:
Shop around and then shop around some more - this is a very confusing section of ecommerce. If you make enquiries with a company and they don't respond within 24 hours, or are somewhat vague in their responses - run like hell away from them. Banks are notorious for utilizing poorly trained salespeople rather than those with hands-on product knowledge or an understanding the complexities of ecommerce. Ensure they explain all charges to you thoroughly by enquiring about the following rates:
* Statement - the charge each month for issuing you statements on all transactions
* Application fee - some institutions will charge you for the privilege of applying for an account, regardless of whether your application is successful or not.
* Setup fee - once your application has been approved, there may be other fees associated with establishing the account.
* Discount Rate - a percentage deducted for each product sold. Also known as the Discount qualified rate
* Mid-qualified and Non-Qualified rate. A higher rate for transactions that don't qualify for the discount rate. Usually applied in circumstances where AVS is not checked or the card is keyed in by the merchant.
* Transaction fee - added to the discount rate, a flat rate on each transaction
* Chargeback - the killer fee which may cost you up to US$30 per fraudulent transaction (which includes any client disputing a transaction successfully).
Need micropayment support?
Merchants with products costing just a couple of dollars are at a distinct disadvantage, with transaction fees gobbling up profit margins for micropayments. Paypal has implemented a new micropayment fee structure for payments under $2. The rate is 5 percent plus 5 cents per transaction.
New online business?
If you are a new business with an untested product range, consider using a well established third party credit card processor such as Paypal, 2Checkout or ClickBank while you test the waters, which will incorporate a payment gateway with a merchant account. Although their transaction rates are a little high, neither charge monthly fees, chargebacks or any of the other fees mentioned above. or ClickBank, Paypal and 2Checkout also incorporate shopping cart applications and other free tools as part of the deal.
Rushed decisions in choosing your ecommerce applications, elements and third party services will dramatically increase the likelihood of your business failure. This is definitely an area where if you spend the time fully investigating all the options open to you - you'll reap the rewards after implementation.
In our previous articles, we examined points to consider in setting up your ecommerce site and also hints and tips on choosing shopping carts.
credit card processing and merchant accounts
Let's briefly recap the nuts and bolts of the process of online sales using credit cards.
1. Customer visits your site
2. Customer clicks on a "buy me" button after reviewing sales copy
3. The selection is added to the shopping cart.
4. Once at the 'checkout', the customers' personal and financial details are recorded via a secure form - well, it should be secure anyway :).
5. Details submitted from the form are transmitted to a payment gateway service, which is separate to the cart. The gateway service securely routes the information through the relevant financial networks.
6. If the transaction is successful, the customers' credit card account is debited and your merchant account is credited.
7. Once all funds have cleared, you are then able to transfer money to your ordinary business checking account.
Payment gateways
A payment gateway is a separate service and acts as an intermediary between the merchants' shopping cart and all the financial networks involved with the transaction, including the customers' credit card issuer and your merchant account. Think of it as a EFTPOS terminal in cyberspace. It checks for validity, encrypts transaction details, ensures they are sent to the correct destination and then decrypts the responses which are sent back to the shopping cart.
This is a seamless process and your customer does not directly interact with the gateway; as data is forwarded to the gateway via your shopping cart and a secure (SSL) connection. The shopping cart is configured via plugins to send information in a format that is acceptable to the particular gateway.
The proper choice of payment gateway is another vital element which will contribute to your success or failure as an online business.
Payment gateway issues
As with any other ecommerce element, shop around, compare prices and read the fine print. Here are some of the major points to consider when selecting a payment gateway service.
Gateway compatibility
If you have already purchased a shopping cart package, ensure that the payment gateway service is compatible. If a service is not listed, contact the shopping cart vendor for clarification. Many shopping cart software companies are happy to support other payment gateway services if there is a demand for it, and usually at no extra cost.
If you haven't yet selected a shopping cart, get a list of supported applications from the payment gateway service provider. A payment gateway may offer great pricing, but if the range of shopping carts or storefront software it supports is limited, the whole process of setting up for taking online payments may cost a lot more than you think. I've noticed some gateways only support horribly expensive and restrictive shopping cart software packages and services.
AVS protection
Ensure the gateway at least offers AVS protection. The Address Verification System (AVS) AVS decreases the incidence of accepting fraudulent transactions by verifying the cardholder's billing address with the card issuer. Using AVS on your transactions may also benefit you by a reduction in fees charged by your Merchant Bank.
Check to see what other types of transaction protection are offered to you as a merchant. These will probably be 'premium' services, the charges added to the basic servicing fees, but dependent on your products may be absolutely necessary. If you are engaged in the sale of anything that is youth or technology oriented, it's probably a wise move to pay for the extra service as chargeback rates on fraudulent transactions can cost you around US$30-$60 per incident! Learn more about reducing credit card fraud in my article on credit card fraud Screening
Internet merchant accounts and third party credit card processors.
Some type of Internet merchant account is necessary in order to have a place to receive funds from credit card sales.
Internet merchant accounts can be gained from most major banks. A word of warning - your bank will more than likely charge like a wounded bull for such an account because of the "risk" involved.
You're probably better off utilizing the services of companies such as Merchant Warehouse, Instamerchant, Durango Merchant Services or Merchant Express who specialize in ecommerce and can tailor a merchant account/payment gateway solution to suit your needs.
Merchant Warehouse
Since 1998, Merchant Warehouse has been around since 1998 and has an excellent reputation as being one of the largest, most reputable merchant service providers in the payment processing. With over 50,000 accounts to its credit, Merchant Warehouse has enabled online businesses across the USA to accept credit card payments by offering the excellent deals on merchant processing solutions and by providing a high standard of service and support. I've dealt with them a few times over the years in connection with other companies and have always found them to be quite attentive.
InstaMerchant
Instamerchant is definitely another interesting proposition for the following reasons:
1. Name recognition. Instamerchant represents Cardservice, one of the largest brands in the entire industry.
2. Stability. Cardservice is a wholly owned subsidiary of FDC and processes over $15 billion a year.
3. Instant approvals. A true online application that runs the credit check in real time and tells the merchant if they have been approved instantly. Instamerchant can have you up and running before many other companies would have contacted you.
4. Full disclosure of all fees in clear manner manner - no nasty shocks or fine print.
5. Customer support 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
6. Cardservice owns the LinkPoint gateway - allows you to consolidate merchant account and gateway with a single provider.
7. According to Instamerchant proprietor, Dave Standage, they actually *do* approve 98% of all applications. I've known Dave for quite a while, and if he says they do, well.. they do :).
8. Instamerchant is currently offering Taming the Beast visitors very special deals!
Another option may be to use a third party processing service such as Paypal, 2Checkout or ClickBank. These three services are basically a payment gateway and merchant account rolled into one and operated by the same company. In the case of ClickBank they also offer affiliate program features at no extra cost and all three also provide recurring billing services for subscription and premium membership services. These companies are also non-USA merchant friendly..
Selecting an Internet merchant account provider or third party processor:
Shop around and then shop around some more - this is a very confusing section of ecommerce. If you make enquiries with a company and they don't respond within 24 hours, or are somewhat vague in their responses - run like hell away from them. Banks are notorious for utilizing poorly trained salespeople rather than those with hands-on product knowledge or an understanding the complexities of ecommerce. Ensure they explain all charges to you thoroughly by enquiring about the following rates:
* Statement - the charge each month for issuing you statements on all transactions
* Application fee - some institutions will charge you for the privilege of applying for an account, regardless of whether your application is successful or not.
* Setup fee - once your application has been approved, there may be other fees associated with establishing the account.
* Discount Rate - a percentage deducted for each product sold. Also known as the Discount qualified rate
* Mid-qualified and Non-Qualified rate. A higher rate for transactions that don't qualify for the discount rate. Usually applied in circumstances where AVS is not checked or the card is keyed in by the merchant.
* Transaction fee - added to the discount rate, a flat rate on each transaction
* Monthly Minimum - what you will be charge regardless of the level of sales each month
* Reserve - some providers require you to maintain a certain level in the account to cover chargeback fees.
* Chargeback - the killer fee which may cost you up to US$30 per fraudulent transaction (which includes any client disputing a transaction successfully).
Need micropayment support?
Merchants with products costing just a couple of dollars are at a distinct disadvantage, with transaction fees gobbling up profit margins for micropayments. Paypal has implemented a new micropayment fee structure for payments under $2. The rate is 5 percent plus 5 cents per transaction.
New online business?
If you are a new business with an untested product range, consider using a well established third party credit card processor such as Paypal, 2Checkout or ClickBank while you test the waters, which will incorporate a payment gateway with a merchant account. Although their transaction rates are a little high, neither charge monthly fees, chargebacks or any of the other fees mentioned above. or ClickBank, Paypal and 2Checkout also incorporate shopping cart applications and other free tools as part of the deal.
Rushed decisions in choosing your ecommerce applications, elements and third party services will dramatically increase the likelihood of your business failure. This is definitely an area where if you spend the time fully investigating all the options open to you - you'll reap the rewards after implementation.
Basic ecommerce web site design and development
Introduction
Welcome to Taming the Beast.net and the world of online business!
This 2 part series assumes you have a basic web presence and briefly outlines preparing your web site for online sales and credit card transactions. The articles linked to will then assist you in making a more educated decision before implementing ecommerce software and marketing tools.
Before we begin, there's two things you'll want to do :)
The first is:
Bookmark this page! - press(Ctrl-D) on your keyboard.
You've only just arrived and I'd hate for you to lose your place! (by the way, you can get the above handy little bookmarking script here). The second thing you should do is subscribe to our free newsletter via the box on this page. Our newsletter will keep you informed of new ecommerce and web marketing tips we add to our site.
That done, let's get into it!
Online sales processing using credit card based transactions may not be quite as straightforward as you may think. Many web site owners new to ecommerce are under the impression that they just plug a shopping cart into their site; but a cart is only a part of the whole ecommerce process.
"I don't want to support online payments"
In case you were thinking about avoiding online credit card transactions to sell your product, think again. The days of 'send me a check or money order' are long gone. In the vast majority of cases, customers will want your product, and want it now.
Even if the product or service you are offering is totally unique, you will miss many sales if you don't implement some form of online credit card processing. But implementing a processing service doesn't necessarily mean shelling out big dollars up front.
Shopping cart questions? Try our articles, guides and reviews!
Shopping cart software
Learn more about shopping carts or read our reviews of some the best shopping cart software around!
Need to learn more about merchant accounts or payment processors? Try our ecommerce guides
The web site
OK, I'm sure you know this one! The web site acts as the store front for the products and services you wish to sell online. Your site visitors are, for the most part, window shoppers and browsers. A commercial web site's aim is to convert these browsers into buyers.
The web site should be designed to gently lead the client through the learning and sales process. Your sales text must be grammatically sound and spelled correctly. Poor spelling loses credibility points straight away.
Ensure that there is plenty of well laid out textual content on the site to attract search engines as well as to inform prospective clients. Use keyword and keyphrase rich text; that is, utilize copy that includes common phrases that people would enter into search engines when performing a query. The copy you use shouldn't just be informational, it needs to actively sell to the site visitor. Learn more about crafting marketing copy and creating effective landing pages.
What search terms are commonly used?
A useful tool in understanding how people are searching is freely available from Google. With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames on particular keywords, finding the most popular terms for a given topic or industry sector.
Attracting search engines and targeted site traffic is a huge ongoing learning curve, and there are plenty of other articles and tools on our site to assist you with this. View our search engine marketing resources or our general promotion archives.
Cross Browser Compatibility
Internet Explorer isn't the only browser on the market. There are currently over 100 different brands of Internet browser currently available. IE's major competitor is Firefox and what looks good in Internet Explorer may look terrible or even crash other browsers! Make sure that you design your site to be viewable in at least:
Internet Explorer 7.0
Firefox 3.0 +
Between these two browsers, you'll have well over 90% of market covered. By paying attention to even simple things like browser compatibility issues, you will increase your sales.
The use of images
All images used should clearly depict the product/service and where possible, don't use stock images that come with products such as Photoshop. Seasoned Internet surfers will recognize these as they appear on thousands of sites around the world. Use original photography or scanned images wherever you can, or make use of the many stock photo archives where you can purchase high quality images for as little as a couple of dollars each.
Ensure that you optimize your images for rapid download. Much of the world still does not utilize broadband, and no-one is going to wait around for 2 minutes to see a photo of a "happy customer" or "successful businessperson who uses our product". All popular graphics packages support compression for web based graphics, usually through easy to use wizards. Try your graphics software program's help file and search for "optimization" or "compression".
Images are a wonderful medium to assist in the online sale of your products/services, especially useful to those clients with poor literacy levels or who are in a rush, as we all seem to be these days. But remember, while a picture may be worth a thousand words in the offline world, it's worth next to nothing when it comes to search engines as spiders do not 'see' pictures.
Image HTML coding should also contain 'alt' tags. This is a textual representation of the image which is useful for the situations where the image doesn't load for some reason. Search engines spiders also latch on to this content, especially if the image is linked to another page. 'alt' text will also pop up when a visitor moves their mouse over the image. Here's a sample of html code for an image which also contains 'alt' text:
Site Navigation.
Site navigation should be simple and all the questions a consumer may ask should be answered along the way. Where possible, adhere to the "three click rule" - that is, a visitor should be able to access any information regarding your product or service within 3 clicks of any other area of your web site. Pay close attention to cross-browser compatibility issues as many complex menu systems play havoc with browsers.
Recommended pages.
Along with the home page, your sales pages and the shopping cart, I recommend implementing the following web pages as part of your ecommerce site:
About Us Page.
The "About Us" page is crucial to boosting consumer confidence. It provides a summary of the business, your commitments and direction.
While we are all protective of our privacy, online business is no different to traditional business in that we all like to 'put a face to the name' - we need to reassure our site visitors. When purchasing goods online, I always go to the 'About Us' or company profile pages before parting with my money (especially after one bad experience - another story for another time). The page should also provide other contact details for your business and your various registrations, associations and affiliations. View further information relating to "about us" or company profile pages.
email marketing tips, software and reviews
Autoresponder software
& mailing list managers
Get more from your email
marketing - tips, reviews
& free trial software/services.
Privacy policy.
What are you going to do with my information? - a question asked by many online shoppers. Putting together a privacy policy doesn't necessarily require a legal team! Learn more about developing Privacy statements.
FAQ's (Frequently asked questions)
No doubt you'll be asked many questions about your product. Many of these questions will be repetitive. It's these questions and answers that you'll want to add to your FAQ page. This promotes customer confidence and saves your valuable time. A prospective client may be somewhat hesitant in asking questions and this hesitancy may translate into a lost sale. A well constructed FAQ will help coax these online customers into purchasing.
You don't need to spend a lot of money on a basic FAQ system. Simply list the questions at the beginning of the FAQ in dot-point format, perhaps broken down into various categories to make searching easier. Each of these questions should be directly linked to the answer further down the page with the use of bookmarks. This basic design also allows for scalability.
You can link to the FAQ not only through the main menu system, but after every "buy me" type statement. The FAQ should be accessible within one click of any other area of your web site that is dedicated to selling the product or service.
Testimonials page
A dollar value can not be placed upon positive client testimonials; this is some of the best promotional copy around. Elicit feedback from your current customers and ask their permission to publish their comments on your site.
Testimonials can be implemented on a page of their own, or interspersed between your own statements regarding the product. If you do implement a Testimonials page, ensure that it can be accessed with one click from any other page on the site.
Ideally the link or button should be placed on your web site navigational menu, preferable at the top.
If you don't have any testimonials or referees, it may be worthwhile considering supplying a select group of people with the product free of charge for testing and feedback purposes. Learn more about using testimonials and reviews in marketing.
In our second part of this series, we'll cover other pre-sales services worth considering as part of your online sales pitch. Also included is some introductory information about ordering processes and ecommerce components. View part 2 of Basic ecommerce web site design and development..
Welcome to Taming the Beast.net and the world of online business!
This 2 part series assumes you have a basic web presence and briefly outlines preparing your web site for online sales and credit card transactions. The articles linked to will then assist you in making a more educated decision before implementing ecommerce software and marketing tools.
Before we begin, there's two things you'll want to do :)
The first is:
Bookmark this page! - press(Ctrl-D) on your keyboard.
You've only just arrived and I'd hate for you to lose your place! (by the way, you can get the above handy little bookmarking script here). The second thing you should do is subscribe to our free newsletter via the box on this page. Our newsletter will keep you informed of new ecommerce and web marketing tips we add to our site.
That done, let's get into it!
Online sales processing using credit card based transactions may not be quite as straightforward as you may think. Many web site owners new to ecommerce are under the impression that they just plug a shopping cart into their site; but a cart is only a part of the whole ecommerce process.
"I don't want to support online payments"
In case you were thinking about avoiding online credit card transactions to sell your product, think again. The days of 'send me a check or money order' are long gone. In the vast majority of cases, customers will want your product, and want it now.
Even if the product or service you are offering is totally unique, you will miss many sales if you don't implement some form of online credit card processing. But implementing a processing service doesn't necessarily mean shelling out big dollars up front.
Shopping cart questions? Try our articles, guides and reviews!
Shopping cart software
Learn more about shopping carts or read our reviews of some the best shopping cart software around!
Need to learn more about merchant accounts or payment processors? Try our ecommerce guides
The web site
OK, I'm sure you know this one! The web site acts as the store front for the products and services you wish to sell online. Your site visitors are, for the most part, window shoppers and browsers. A commercial web site's aim is to convert these browsers into buyers.
The web site should be designed to gently lead the client through the learning and sales process. Your sales text must be grammatically sound and spelled correctly. Poor spelling loses credibility points straight away.
Ensure that there is plenty of well laid out textual content on the site to attract search engines as well as to inform prospective clients. Use keyword and keyphrase rich text; that is, utilize copy that includes common phrases that people would enter into search engines when performing a query. The copy you use shouldn't just be informational, it needs to actively sell to the site visitor. Learn more about crafting marketing copy and creating effective landing pages.
What search terms are commonly used?
A useful tool in understanding how people are searching is freely available from Google. With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames on particular keywords, finding the most popular terms for a given topic or industry sector.
Attracting search engines and targeted site traffic is a huge ongoing learning curve, and there are plenty of other articles and tools on our site to assist you with this. View our search engine marketing resources or our general promotion archives.
Cross Browser Compatibility
Internet Explorer isn't the only browser on the market. There are currently over 100 different brands of Internet browser currently available. IE's major competitor is Firefox and what looks good in Internet Explorer may look terrible or even crash other browsers! Make sure that you design your site to be viewable in at least:
Internet Explorer 7.0
Firefox 3.0 +
Between these two browsers, you'll have well over 90% of market covered. By paying attention to even simple things like browser compatibility issues, you will increase your sales.
The use of images
All images used should clearly depict the product/service and where possible, don't use stock images that come with products such as Photoshop. Seasoned Internet surfers will recognize these as they appear on thousands of sites around the world. Use original photography or scanned images wherever you can, or make use of the many stock photo archives where you can purchase high quality images for as little as a couple of dollars each.
Ensure that you optimize your images for rapid download. Much of the world still does not utilize broadband, and no-one is going to wait around for 2 minutes to see a photo of a "happy customer" or "successful businessperson who uses our product". All popular graphics packages support compression for web based graphics, usually through easy to use wizards. Try your graphics software program's help file and search for "optimization" or "compression".
Images are a wonderful medium to assist in the online sale of your products/services, especially useful to those clients with poor literacy levels or who are in a rush, as we all seem to be these days. But remember, while a picture may be worth a thousand words in the offline world, it's worth next to nothing when it comes to search engines as spiders do not 'see' pictures.
Image HTML coding should also contain 'alt' tags. This is a textual representation of the image which is useful for the situations where the image doesn't load for some reason. Search engines spiders also latch on to this content, especially if the image is linked to another page. 'alt' text will also pop up when a visitor moves their mouse over the image. Here's a sample of html code for an image which also contains 'alt' text:
Site Navigation.
Site navigation should be simple and all the questions a consumer may ask should be answered along the way. Where possible, adhere to the "three click rule" - that is, a visitor should be able to access any information regarding your product or service within 3 clicks of any other area of your web site. Pay close attention to cross-browser compatibility issues as many complex menu systems play havoc with browsers.
Recommended pages.
Along with the home page, your sales pages and the shopping cart, I recommend implementing the following web pages as part of your ecommerce site:
About Us Page.
The "About Us" page is crucial to boosting consumer confidence. It provides a summary of the business, your commitments and direction.
While we are all protective of our privacy, online business is no different to traditional business in that we all like to 'put a face to the name' - we need to reassure our site visitors. When purchasing goods online, I always go to the 'About Us' or company profile pages before parting with my money (especially after one bad experience - another story for another time). The page should also provide other contact details for your business and your various registrations, associations and affiliations. View further information relating to "about us" or company profile pages.
email marketing tips, software and reviews
Autoresponder software
& mailing list managers
Get more from your email
marketing - tips, reviews
& free trial software/services.
Privacy policy.
What are you going to do with my information? - a question asked by many online shoppers. Putting together a privacy policy doesn't necessarily require a legal team! Learn more about developing Privacy statements.
FAQ's (Frequently asked questions)
No doubt you'll be asked many questions about your product. Many of these questions will be repetitive. It's these questions and answers that you'll want to add to your FAQ page. This promotes customer confidence and saves your valuable time. A prospective client may be somewhat hesitant in asking questions and this hesitancy may translate into a lost sale. A well constructed FAQ will help coax these online customers into purchasing.
You don't need to spend a lot of money on a basic FAQ system. Simply list the questions at the beginning of the FAQ in dot-point format, perhaps broken down into various categories to make searching easier. Each of these questions should be directly linked to the answer further down the page with the use of bookmarks. This basic design also allows for scalability.
You can link to the FAQ not only through the main menu system, but after every "buy me" type statement. The FAQ should be accessible within one click of any other area of your web site that is dedicated to selling the product or service.
Testimonials page
A dollar value can not be placed upon positive client testimonials; this is some of the best promotional copy around. Elicit feedback from your current customers and ask their permission to publish their comments on your site.
Testimonials can be implemented on a page of their own, or interspersed between your own statements regarding the product. If you do implement a Testimonials page, ensure that it can be accessed with one click from any other page on the site.
Ideally the link or button should be placed on your web site navigational menu, preferable at the top.
If you don't have any testimonials or referees, it may be worthwhile considering supplying a select group of people with the product free of charge for testing and feedback purposes. Learn more about using testimonials and reviews in marketing.
In our second part of this series, we'll cover other pre-sales services worth considering as part of your online sales pitch. Also included is some introductory information about ordering processes and ecommerce components. View part 2 of Basic ecommerce web site design and development..
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Building an eCommerce Store? Usability Tips that will help you
Most of the times, making a usable product also requires you to have enhanced feature set. At the minimum, there shouldn’t be any annoyances. The best way is to create a feedback mechanisms for user themselves to tell what they want. If you are able to have that channel in place, you can innovate on demand and keep users coming back.
Following can be things you can start right away, without waiting for your users to suggest you.
1. Search should be intelligent.
- It should be able to pick spelling mistakes and abbreviations (MS Office)
- Classify the search term. Many a times the search term itself has filters in it. Is there a company name mentioned (nokia)? Or a specific product (Nokia N-97)? or an general term with category(Cheap Phones) and take directly to the appropriate page with an option to view all results
- As-you-type suggestions can be a great help. A lot of improvements are possible here as well.
Key to ecommerce Design
The Key to Designing an ecommerce Store
2. Login. Why?
- Let user shop without registering and make either email or mobile mandatory.
- If you want them to register, explain what will they get
- embrace standards like OpenID, Yahoo and Google Auth.
3. Feedback
- A feedback link should always be there, accessible which can be used to report any discrepancy such as incorrect data etc. (automatically detect user’s environment and page he is on and don’t waste his time asking such questions)
- Assure them that their feedback will be actually cared about and acted upon. And do act upon it.
4. Good help (possibly a wiki)
- An active community will be able to help themselves and a wiki is a good way to create a help section. Every body in your organizations and power user can edit it.
- For issues not in the help, provide an easy way to reach support.
- Have properly trained customer service reps, as they are the one who can spoil it all.
Following can be things you can start right away, without waiting for your users to suggest you.
1. Search should be intelligent.
- It should be able to pick spelling mistakes and abbreviations (MS Office)
- Classify the search term. Many a times the search term itself has filters in it. Is there a company name mentioned (nokia)? Or a specific product (Nokia N-97)? or an general term with category(Cheap Phones) and take directly to the appropriate page with an option to view all results
- As-you-type suggestions can be a great help. A lot of improvements are possible here as well.
Key to ecommerce Design
The Key to Designing an ecommerce Store
2. Login. Why?
- Let user shop without registering and make either email or mobile mandatory.
- If you want them to register, explain what will they get
- embrace standards like OpenID, Yahoo and Google Auth.
3. Feedback
- A feedback link should always be there, accessible which can be used to report any discrepancy such as incorrect data etc. (automatically detect user’s environment and page he is on and don’t waste his time asking such questions)
- Assure them that their feedback will be actually cared about and acted upon. And do act upon it.
4. Good help (possibly a wiki)
- An active community will be able to help themselves and a wiki is a good way to create a help section. Every body in your organizations and power user can edit it.
- For issues not in the help, provide an easy way to reach support.
- Have properly trained customer service reps, as they are the one who can spoil it all.
How to make Wordpress an Ecommerce Store
Ecommerce Plugin For WordPress
WordPress is continuing to improve it’s functionality. For those of you who have WordPress blogs and want to sell a few items directly from your blog and you don’t want to worry about logging into PayPal and creating a PayPal button for every item you have, this Ecommerce plugin is the answer for you.
I have worked with a lot of people getting their WordPress websites ready for launching and so many of them would have been thrilled to know about this Ecommerce plugin that is now available for use. There is even a full video tutorial on how to turn WordPress blogs into Ecommerce sites. You can easily learn how to use this plugin by watching this video. You download the plugin and then basically fill in a form that allows you to add your products and your PayPal information.
Download the plug-in and turn your WordPress site into an ecommerce site.
Reflections
I recently discovered how how enjoyable it is to watch www.wordpress.tv. I like to work on the computer and listen to something in the background other than television so I feel I’m learning something new. I was delighted to listen to Tim Ferriss talk about all his well researched analytics on what works best on blogs and had a great time laughing at his funny video on how to peel a hard-boiled egg without peeling it the traditional way.
Matt Mullenweg WordCamp 2009
Matt Mullenweg WordCamp 2009
I also can’t get over how the young people in this world are the ones who are shaping everything on the Internet. Matt Mullenweg, a co-founder of WordPress, was only 19 years old when he and Mike Little developed the software for WordPress. He posted programming questions on his blog and was contacted by Mike Little in England who offered to partner with him to work on his vision of WordPress. WordPress has become so popular that there are people who have WordPress tattoos!
MySpace, Facebook, Twitter…they are all being developed by people who were toddlers when computers were being perfected. Matt Mullenweg was listed by PC World as one of the top 50 most influencial people on the Internet.
WordPress is my favorite platform to use. I’m not getting a tattoo, but I certainly enjoy using this
WordPress is continuing to improve it’s functionality. For those of you who have WordPress blogs and want to sell a few items directly from your blog and you don’t want to worry about logging into PayPal and creating a PayPal button for every item you have, this Ecommerce plugin is the answer for you.
I have worked with a lot of people getting their WordPress websites ready for launching and so many of them would have been thrilled to know about this Ecommerce plugin that is now available for use. There is even a full video tutorial on how to turn WordPress blogs into Ecommerce sites. You can easily learn how to use this plugin by watching this video. You download the plugin and then basically fill in a form that allows you to add your products and your PayPal information.
Download the plug-in and turn your WordPress site into an ecommerce site.
Reflections
I recently discovered how how enjoyable it is to watch www.wordpress.tv. I like to work on the computer and listen to something in the background other than television so I feel I’m learning something new. I was delighted to listen to Tim Ferriss talk about all his well researched analytics on what works best on blogs and had a great time laughing at his funny video on how to peel a hard-boiled egg without peeling it the traditional way.
Matt Mullenweg WordCamp 2009
Matt Mullenweg WordCamp 2009
I also can’t get over how the young people in this world are the ones who are shaping everything on the Internet. Matt Mullenweg, a co-founder of WordPress, was only 19 years old when he and Mike Little developed the software for WordPress. He posted programming questions on his blog and was contacted by Mike Little in England who offered to partner with him to work on his vision of WordPress. WordPress has become so popular that there are people who have WordPress tattoos!
MySpace, Facebook, Twitter…they are all being developed by people who were toddlers when computers were being perfected. Matt Mullenweg was listed by PC World as one of the top 50 most influencial people on the Internet.
WordPress is my favorite platform to use. I’m not getting a tattoo, but I certainly enjoy using this
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Ecommerce Marketing
Ecommerce marketing is all about enticing web surfers to your site and, once there, to becoming a customer. While overall similar to marketing a physical business, ecommerce marketing has some unique ingredients. For instance, marketing a physical store requires substantial enticement to move a customer to take the effort to physically come by your store location. It also means that the customer has an “investment” in the visit. They have expended time, energy and money to get to the location.
On the web, “visiting” your store requires far less effort. A single mouse click and there they are. Unfortunately, the minimal effort to get to your site also means that the customer has nothing invested in the visit. It took almost no time or effort to get to your site so there is no “client side” investment in the process. They can just as easily move to another site. In fact, they can visit a dozen sites in as many minutes.
Customers who “invest” in visiting a physical location can generally be said to have a “higher motivation” for making a purchase. The specific need of the customer was great enough to overcome the investment of time, energy and money necessary to make the visit. This investment means that they are far more likely to make a purchase. After all, if they don’t purchase from you they will have to increase their investment by going to another location. The need must be relatively higher for this to occur.
Conversely, the online customer has almost no investment in the visit. Going to your site requires one click of a mouse. Leaving your site requires one click of the mouse.
Many ecommerce marketing companies look at this and use it to justify increased spending on getting new traffic to the web site. For the small and medium business the cost of increasing traffic to the site is substantial and will continue to increase. Just five years ago it cost almost nothing to bring new visitors to your site. As the competition has increased, however, this has fast become the most costly aspect of having an ecommerce web site.
Our view of ecommerce marketing is somewhat different. We look at Internet marketing success as the total cost of converting visitors into customers. This allows you to measure the effectiveness of your total marketing program including getting new visitors, web site design, customer service and after sales marketing.
After all, what good does it do you to get thousands of visitors to your store if you don’t have any inventory to sell?
Ecommerce Marketing Priorities
We divide web site marketing into three primary divisions:
- Enticing visitors (non-customers) to come to the site
- Search engine registration (natural search results)
- Pay-per-click
- Public relations – news releases, articles and stories
- Online advertising (banners, links / cross-links, directories, newsletter placement, etc.)
- Converting visitors (non-customers) into customers
- In-site promotions
- Sales / Special Offers
- In-store Coupons
- Associated Products
- Customer Recommendations
- Opt-in Email Promotions
- Site Effectiveness
- Enticing appropriate visitor behavior
- Establishing emotional context
- Building relationships
- Increasing per-customer purchases
- After sale marketing
- After sale relationship building
Enticing visitors and converting visitors work hand in hand. One without the other dramatically reduces the opportunities for creating new customers. You have to get the new visitor to the site and you have to provide sufficient incentive to turn that visitor into a buying customer.
The parts of E-Commerce
- E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with online catalogs, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall"
- The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts
- Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data
- E-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established customers (for example, with newsletters)
- Business-to-business buying and selling
- The security of business transactions
E-tailing or The Virtual Storefront and the Virtual Mall
As a place for direct retail shopping, with its 24-hour availability, a global reach, the ability to interact and provide custom information and ordering, and multimedia prospects, the Web is rapidly becoming a multibillion dollar source of revenue for the world's businesses. A number of businesses already report considerable success. As early as the middle of 1997, Dell Computers reported orders of a million dollars a day. By early 1999, projected e-commerce revenues for business were in the billions of dollars and the stocks of companies deemed most adept at e-commerce were skyrocketing. Although many so-called dotcom retailers disappeared in the economic shakeout of 2000.
Market Research
In early 1999, it was widely recognized that because of the interactive nature of the Internet, companies could gather data about prospects and customers in unprecedented amounts -through site registration, questionnaires, and as part of taking orders. The issue of whether data was being collected with the knowledge and permission of market subjects had been raised. (Microsoft referred to its policy of data collection as "profiling" and a proposed standard has been developed that allows Internet users to decide who can have what personal information.)
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
EDI is the exchange of business data using an understood data format. It predates today's Internet. EDI involves data exchange among parties that know each other well and make arrangements for one-to-one (or point-to-point) connection, usually dial-up. EDI is expected to be replaced by one or more standard XML formats, such as ebXML
E-Mail, Fax, and Internet Telephony
E-commerce is also conducted through the more limited electronic forms of communication called e-mail, facsimile or fax, and the emerging use of telephone calls over the Internet. Most of this is business-to-business, with some companies attempting to use e-mail and fax for unsolicited ads to consumers and other business prospects. An increasing number of business Web sites offer e-mail newsletters for subscribers. A new trend is
Business-to-Business Buying and Selling
Thousands of companies that sell products to other companies have discovered that the Web provides not only a 24-hour-a-day showcase for their products but a quick way to reach the right people in a company for more information.
The Security of Business Transactions
Security includes authenticating business transactors, controlling access to resources such as Web pages for registered or selected users,
What is E-Commerce?
Electronic Commerce, commonly known as (electronic marketing) e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.
A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web.
Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com.
Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.
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