What does a successful e-commerce website really need

There are many different options available when it comes to setting up an E-commerce website, but no matter how you go about it, you will need a full array of options when establishing your website in the beginning.

It goes without saying that before you can even begin to think of the setup and design of the ecommerce website, you need to have a business plan drawn up to cater for your product, your marketing plans, and your outline for future growth. Once you have a suitable product and plan to generate traffic and direct it to your website, you can then outline what you want for a fully functioning ecommerce website.

Of the features available, you will need the following, at the very least:

Hosting

Layout and Design

Logo creation (if you don’t already have a company logo)

CMS (content management system) for your products and listing and pricing

Shopping cart integrated into a payment gateway

Order tracking system / database

System reporting

For any ecommerce website that is selling physical (or non-physical) goods, these are the items which you will need to consider when setting up your site.

For hosting, you can either approach a hosting company directly, or approach a decent web designer. The web designer will be able to handle the logo creating for your company logo, and will integrate this into your layout and design for your website as well. They will, usually, also know where the cheaper options are for hosting, and will be able to direct you to a suitable company for this, often being able to set it up for you. Alternatively, often hosting companies provide the same services (by having an in-house developer and designer) as a package, and you will be able to use one of their website templates for your site.

The shopping cart system can either be done by yourself, or by hiring a developer, or by getting a ready-made shopping cart system integrated into your site (your web designer/developer will be able to do this for you). The cart will generally integrate into a payments processing provider, so you’ll need to discuss with a provider about having credit card payments made on your site, and about having the provider take payments and settle with you directly.

Any decent ecommerce website will keep track of its own stock and orders, and will integrate its own stock and sales reports with those that are returned by the payments processing provider. You will then need to do reconciliations with the provider to make sure that all the orders that are processed were paid for, and that the provider settled all payments to you by the required date. The providers are usually quite strict about you maintaining your own records, so keeping track of your own orders is a good idea.

Overall, it is quite simple to do the entire ecommerce website yourself (or with the help of contracted IT professionals), but there are also alternatives out there, where you can purchase an entire, ready-made package. It’s just a matter of looking, and gauging what works best for your situation.

About Webmama

Webmama.co.uk is a leading provider of ecommerce website and shopping cart website solution in the UK. We have packages that suits every budget, with industry leading client centric service and competitive, honest prices, it’s no wonder 1500+ worldwide customers look to Webmama.co.uk for all their ecommerce solution needs.

Were excited to offer you a completely free 14 day trial to evaluate our software with zero risk (no credit card required). Were sure that once you see what our E-commerce website can do, youll know its the right choice for your business and your online success.

Contact: 44 (0) 845 634 4586

Source: webmama.co.uk

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Dont Fall Into the Website Split Testing Black Hole

If you believe the hype, then website split testing is the long lost “holy grail” of Internet Marketing and the key to transforming your online dreams into reality. Unfortunately, the hype is wrong because split testing is just a tool and like any tool: Its only as powerful as the person wielding it. In fact, one of the first things people tend to split test is their headlines. Well this is a complete waste of time because headlines dont drive conversions, they merely pull visitors farther into your copy where your other sales tools, like the offer, actually convert prospects.

So in other words: You could use website split testing to try 50 different headlines but if all the other components were held the same, then the net difference in conversion rate between versions would average less than 5%. Headlines dont drive conversions, period. So testing different headlines is a complete waste of time if thats your objective.

Now before you think Im against website split testing, make no mistake: I am not and in fact I believe it to be vital to any successful conversion rate optimisation project. However, a much wiser investment of your time would be to concentrate on setting up split tests on the following sales tools: Your pricing; Your offer details; Post Script or Call-to-Action

Pricing remains one of the biggest drivers of conversions so using website split testing to try out different price points is vital to dialing in the right balance between Price Point and Conversion Rate. After all, you might be able to sell Product X for $50 at a 1% conversion rate but get 1.5% at $39. Your job is to crunch the numbers and figure out the best balance for highest profits and thats where split tests become vital.

Now although pricing is certainly one component of your offer, here are the other components that you should consider website split testing to improve conversion rate: Your features and/or product description; Any bonus products or services; Your Buy Now button.

All of these components of your offer will significantly affect conversion rate so youll want to run separate split tests for each of them. I would not advise multivariate testing unless you have significant experience and have successfully done so in the past. Otherwise, stick to separate split tests for each offer component.

Lastly and believe it or not: Post-scripts or a final CTA really work to the tune of generating upwards of 20% more clicks to the shopping cart when done properly. Now on most Ecommerce sites, this final CTA will typically take the form of “People who liked this product also liked:” and then a row of pictures of related products that link to formal product descriptions.

On other sites, the final CTA may be a prompt to sign up for a free consult, lead gen product, or simply a traditional post-script linking to the shopping cart. Whatever format youre using, be sure to conduct website split-testing on your post-script or closing call-to-action because it can literally boost click-thru-rate to your shopping cart or database by 20% or more.

Make no mistake, split tests are a vital tool for any successful website optimisation project and can help you dial-in your price point, maximise offer effectiveness, and boost click-thru rates to your shopping cart. Just be sure to avoid split-testing “non-converting” sales tools and use them effectively to significantly boost online conversions.

Ecommerce Web Hosting

Internet business owners must realize that website downtime results in lost traffic and lost sales. Most ecommerce web hosts that are truly reliable guaranty at least 99% uptime. It pays to find out what your ecommerce web host’s policies and practices are in regard to uptime, backup procedures, disaster recovery and downtime prevention.

Ecommerce is also known as electronic commerce, a term that is now synonymous with any business offering their products catalogs and cyber shops to the online world. These online companies are now conducting their online ecommerce business round-the-clock using the highly professional marketing tools and services provided by Ecommerce hosting solutions.

The basic aim of signing for an ecommerce web hosting package is to know your specific goals and objectives, and how best will you be able to achieve them by using the hosting package. Your success or failure also depends on the type of software and hosting services you will be able to use with the ecommerce web hosting package.

Traffic is the lifeline for a website. Even the most beautiful website designed by the top ecommerce web hosting and design services team is obsolete without visitors. Therefore, when you are designing your website, it is critical that you keep SEO in mind.

Small or new businesses need affordable ecommerce web hosting services to help them generate more traffic and sales for their business. However, the road to creating a successful online store can be a difficult and confusing one if you are unaware of how to avail affordable ecommerce hosting services.

Making the right choice on your solution package wont be easy, because providers offer combinations of solutions at different prices. Some services offer easy to install shopping carts as part of their affordable ecommerce web hosting service. You will have to use your search engine to see what is available and which of these services suit your needs.

Make sure whatever web hosting you go with has a variety off FREE shopping carts that you can download. We suggest finding a web host that uses Fantastico, because it comes ready with a variety of click click shopping cart installations including such types as osCommerce and Agora Shopping Cart.

One of the easiest distinguishing elements of an ecommerce website is that all of them will have a shopping cart or some form of sales processor. Basically, if you do not already know what a shopping cart is, it simply allows the user to customize his/her online shopping. The familiar logo of a cart/trolley can be seen on all websites that deal in ecommerce.

Major online companies have their own credit card processing tool therefore they do not need the services of payment facilities such as PayPal. This is another great feature available through a good eCommerce web hosting company. You will need to have a merchant wherein payments will go through your bank directly once consumers complete their purchase using their credit cards.

AVS Technology Breaks Iron Triangle of Good Fast and Cheap

by Anthony W. Hawks, Chief Legal Officer, e-LYNXX Corporation

AVS Technology is the basic procedural component of any automated solution for buying custom goods and services that must be defined by production or performance specifications at the time of purchase. It includes the following steps:
ENTER vendor attributes
ENTER project specifications
MATCH vendor attributes to project specifications to determine sub-set of qualified vendors
SEND project specifications to sub-set of qualified vendors
RECEIVE a bid response from at least one vendor

When these steps are applied using a computer-operated system, a unique competitive bidding environment can be established where vendors of custom goods and services are now willing to offer their lowest prices to fill idle production capacity. This strategy is called “contribution pricing”. When vendors bid work (even when bidding well below normal rates), any income obtained above out-of-pocket costs “contributes” to fixed costs and overhead and, when absorbed, to their bottom lines.

Prior to AVS Technology, buyers of custom goods and services were faced with the “iron triangle” of quality, timeliness, and cost. Regardless of the industry involved, every procurement or supply chain solution seeks to attract business customers that want to achieve the purchasing trifecta of “good, fast, and cheap.” Before AVS Technology, however, a buyer could only achieve two of these three goals at any one time, not all three simultaneously.

AVS Technology breaks the “iron triangle” because it allows pre-qualified vendors with excess idle capacity to provide an extraordinary low price without risk of establishing future buyer price expectations. In other words, price is no longer tied to quality and timeliness of delivery. This is what makes AVS Technology integral to all current and future e-commerce methods and systems for buying custom goods and services including ERP systems, general supply chain management systems, specialized product or service procurement systems, and even older legacy systems. One such system for organizations with significant buying needs in direct mail, marketing, publications, packaging, labeling and other types of print is currently being offered by American Print Management. Regardless of the industry or buying need, however, all users and providers of such e-commerce methods or systems are required to license AVS Technology if they wish to benefit from this revolutionary innovation.

AVS Technology is unique in creating a controlled bidding environment in which repetitive purchasers of custom goods and services can leverage the open production capacity of their preferred vendors in a way that virtually guarantees “contribution pricing” that is, below normal pricing that seeks primarily to absorb out-of-pocket costs and some level of fixed costs and overhead. This is accomplished by allowing qualified vendors to bid high, low, or not at all (1) without having to consider buyer pricing expectations; (2) without fear of setting either high or low precedent for future bid prices; and (3) without worrying about being denied future bid opportunities for which the vendor is qualified. Freed from these concerns, bidders offer pricing based on their open production capacity at the time each job is bid, knowing that if they bid low this week when they are hungry for work, they are not bound to offer the same low price next week when they are busy with other orders.

The technology is based on a series of patents that the U.S. Patent Office awarded to e-LYNXX Corporation, including Patent No. 6,397,197, Patent No. 7,451,106, post-Bilski Patent No. 7,788,143, and Continuing Application 12/8885,423 (collectively, the “AVS Technology”). This thicket of patents covers all custom goods and services, not just print.

Licensing AVS Technology should be viewed as both a strategic benefit and a legal requirement. Any organization with a computer-operated system that procures custom goods and services, by following the steps outlined in AVS Technology, is required to obtain a license to use (or continue using) the patented procedure protected by AVS Technology. This applies to systems that are developed internally as well as those used through third-party brokers, procurement services and system providers. Organizations should check with their system or service providers to ensure that the system being used is in compliance with AVS Technology licensing requirements.

About e-LYNXX Corporation
e-LYNXX Corporation patented the technology integral to e-commerce. Endorsed by Educational & Institutional Cooperative Purchasing (E&I) and Printing Industries of America (PIA), e-LYNXX drives results through its three divisions. AVS TechnologyTM licenses the patented* automated vendor selection procedure used in e-commerce and procurement systems. American Print Management provides web-based system, services and patented AVS TechnologyTM to reduce substantially the procured costs of direct mail, marketing, publications, packaging, labels and other procured print. Government Print Management offers effective U.S. GPO bid services and strategies. www.e-LYNXX.com 888-876-5432

Ideas In the direction of e-book Achievement -3 Tips eBook Success

Have you been additionally fantasizing regarding getting more lucrative inside your on the internet e-book business success? Nicely, its true which for individuals to purchase your item, you dont just market the actual e-book nicely. Furthermore essential would be to truly provide a superior quality e-book that will supply your visitors along with appropriate info. Should you provide them with a good e-book that has top quality, theyll continue arriving back, requesting much more items. Better still, theyd suggest you to definitely others such as their own buddies as well as family members.

Right now, apart from great marketing as well as appropriate info, theres also other activities that will help you equipment your web e-book company in the direction of achievement. Youre most likely wanting to learn more about this currently therefore here are some points you need to bear in mind:

Construct your own listIn the web advertising globe, its been frequently stated how the cash is within the actual checklist. Exact same applies to your web e-book company. If you wish to be prosperous, you need to get in touch with an extensive range of individuals. You need to be in a position to be as well as your company popularly recognized. Therefore, you should possess a checklist where individuals voluntarily supplied their own titles as well as e-mail handles. In the event that youll be able to obtain particulars within an honest method, youll be able to market for them. In the event that much more individuals choose into your own checklist, youll have elevated product sales as well as greater earnings as well.

Provide freebiesWho doesnt would like giveaways? In order to bring about the actual attention associated with increasing numbers of people, you need to provide them with a few giveaways as well. You are able to possibly provide them with having a useful brief e-book free of charge actually prior to these people buy your own item. This can make sure they are interested in the particular item. Or even, you are able to provide them with bonus deals that are bundled up using the e-book that youre promoting plus they could possibly get this particular following purchasing.

Usually develop some thing newTo keep your current clients you have and also to actually motivate much more individuals to turn out to be thinking about your company, you need to continuously develop brand new points. This can be a brand new item or possibly a brand new promotional that could get the interest of individuals.

Along with individuals 3 ideas, it is possible in order to accelerate the right path in the direction of achievement inside your on the internet e-book company