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Title: Make your e-commerce website more than an electronic catalog
By: Author: Gregg Kell
Everyday thousands of people are purchasing products on-line
from the comfort of their homes. This "arm chair" shopping has
become the most popular way for thousands and thousands of
consumers to purchase everything from vitamins to luxury
automobiles.
The Internet is the greatest marketing opportunity ever. If you
do not have your business on-line, you are missing a golden
opportunity to reach millions of potential customers everyday.
Every major business has an e-commerce storefront on-line. This
new business opportunity gives everyone the chance to make money
on the Internet, and has created a growing opportunity for
e-commerce website designers.
A company that specializes in e-commerce website design can also
be your source for e-commerce hosting, e-commerce website
development, e-commerce solutions, and business-to-business
e-commerce.
A website that offers products for sale is not just a simple
electronic version of a catalog. These interactive "storefronts"
give you a visual impression of the products that they sell.
They also provide the customer with a shopping cart to purchase
multiple products. Besides selling your products on-line, a well
designed e-commerce site will help promote these products
through advertisements, track order status, ship goods and
manage inventories.
Making an online store a success is an ongoing process,
recruiting a professional e-commerce website designer can almost
guarantee success.
Here are a few simple rules to follow when building your
e-commerce website.
1. Keep the shopping process simple and limit the number of
steps involved in the checkout process. It's very important for
your customers to find it easy to locate what they want and easy
to buy those products on-line. A good example of this is
Amazon.com. They make it easy for customers to locate, select,
and checkout.
2. Include tax and shipping costs in your customers shopping
cart: Make certain the customer is aware of all the costs
included in the purchase.
3. Add gift ideas like cards, gift certificates, and wrapping
paper options before your customer checks out. The is the kind
of personalized service that will turn visitors into returning
customers. You can ask them what color wrapping paper they
prefer, they can key in their gift card message, click the
submit button and checkout.
4. Clearly displayed privacy policy information and other rules
and guidelines in pop-ups.
5. Don't force registration. Allow customers a chance to fill in
their shopping cart with your products first, and then ask them
to register.
6. Offer your customers on-line order tracking features, online
customer help and multiple shipping options.
E-commerce has created new and exciting opportunities for
everyone to have his or her own on-line business. Thousands of
people every day are finding new ways to make money on-line. But
the simple secret for business success has never changed. Treat
your customers with respect. Provide them with a quality product
at a fair price and you're likely to build a successful
business.
About the author:
Gregg Kell is President of Kell Solutions a website design and
search engine optimization firm based in Laguna Niguel, CA.
Permission is granted to re-publish this article providing it is
published in its entirety without exclusion including this
Author's Block and imbedded links. The author may be contacted
via email.
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