Electronic Business

I LOVE SHOPPING. To be clearer, I love online shopping. Who doesn't really? What with e-businesses sprouting left right and center, there are endless possibilities that everyone gets to choose. Just like normal businesses, there are some unfortunate closures and there those that are still up and running even as I am typing this.

If you are thinking of setting up an ecommerce website and have no idea what are the top ten key factors to owning a successful site, here are the top ten key factors!


TOP TEN REASONS WHY WEBSITES SUCCEED.

• ALWAYS REMEMBER TO UPDATE YOUR SITE DAILY

You have to know that great websites do not succeed by letting their websites grow cobwebs because they think that they have nothing left to update their site with. Weekly or monthly updates just does not make the cut. Let's say you have no new products to add in on a day to day basis, you have to continue trying to add something new so that your consumers will find for themselves a reason to continue heading back to your website as compared to the others. Maybe adding in some bolgposts reviews? Or maybe a competition? Clearance sales? Backorders? Just think about what you would like to see if you are consumer and you will not run out of ideas for your website. Furthermore, a daily update of your website will increase your search engine ranking! And in SEO terms, you will be at the top of your rank. 

Qoo10

• PROVIDE A SUBSCRIPTION OF SOME SORT

Groupon

Remembering the old time proverb of "out of sight, out of mind"? Well, that applies greatly to the internet as well. Or perhaps even more so. If your competition has constant updates for the consumer as compared to your lack of weekly updates website, the consumer will slowly but surely wipe your presence clear from their hippocampus and your business will fail. Successful website will tend to send newsletters/bargains/coming soon products/ clearance sales, at least once a week. This sending of the regular newsletter actually gives you a chance to push for new products and clearance sales, and you actually imprint brand awareness upon the consumer's mind and ensuring that they do not fail to remember your existence. 

• SIMPLE,CONSISTENT, AND EASY NAVIGATION

Ebay

Yes yes, having that amazing flash animation on your websites gives you the kick that YOU want, when YOU open your site - that is because you placed it there and you understand its purpose. But not the consumer, they have no idea why you placed an annoying flashing animation over there, and they are annoyed by it so they decided to close the tab that holds your website. Just like any normal business, the bottom line for having a successful ecommerce website is to make life easy for your consumer! Make every navigation simple and classy, with the options for switching products to be clean and consistent, and your consumer will be more inclined to stay longer to take a snoop around. Remember to always include these few things:

1. About Us
2. Products / Services
3.  Contact Us
4. Testimonials / Product Reviews / Before & After
5. . Frequently Asked Questions
6. Site Map
7. Copyright Information
8. Return/Refund/Privacy Policy
9. Resources/Articles
10. Frequently Asked Questions

• EVOLVING MORE THAN YOUR COMPETITION

Old Facebook

 New Facebook

You own a website business. That itself speaks volumes about what you have to do to maintain a website business. You have to evolve the same way technology does, by adopting new technologies as they come, and remember that your consumer will like to see a change in the website they are visiting once in awhile. So be open with changing the outlook of your website, and factor in the cost incurred for this as something that is necessary. Don't be like the websites that have failed because they are the ones that are left in the dust when other websites had already changed. Think like the way CEOs of big companies are paid to think - think of the future. 

• PLACE YOUR WEBSITE IN GOOD HANDS 

Google Team

Needless to say, if you put in only 50% of effort in maintaining this as a business, then you can only expect to receive about 50% in returns. To succeed in your ecommerce website, do not be stingy with the money that you have to spend. Hire staff that are eager to make this business as successful as you desire it to be, and remember that this is not an area to scrimp on as well! Have a team of full timers that will be responsible for most of the day to day running of the site, and another group that will brainstorm along with you how to better the website; more heads will make better ideas.

• GOOD LOOKING LOGOS AND DOMAIN NAMES

You are your website, and your website is you. Treat your website like a living being, where similar to human beings, outlook and a classy name will create for you a "halo effect". Simply put, you have to look the part to be the part. As I have repeated countless of times, money is not something that you can be stingy about in every sense of the word. Hire a professional web designer to design the website for you, and a professional logo designer to ensure the appeal of your logo. Never choose a cheaper alternative, since you wouldn't want your website to fall through because your logo looks cheap and homemade do you?

• SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

This is something that every ecommerce website should do, and if you are not doing it... then your business has either failed, or you are very lucky. Remember I mentioned that you have to place your website in good hands? Your full time staff that is hired to manage your website has probably set about doing this as soon as they can. In the over populated world of the Internet that is based largely by SEO. this is something that you have to do. Need I say more?

• GOOD PR 

By now, you would have set about doing up your SEO, but that is not the end to placing your website on the map of ebusinesses. You have to remember that ecommerce is similar to regular businesses, where good PR is essential to making your website known. Get featured on popular blogs, news sites, ad space, and placing articles in regular newspapers for a wider coverage of your consumers. Do not look down on blogs or news sites, as they are your strongest platform to promote your website through. Or maybe you can get your team of workers to partake in pay-per-click advertising, a much underrated way to promote your site. 

• GOING SOCIAL

This might be something new to the consumers 12 years back, but no longer is going the way of social media deemed as unnecessary. In fact, if you have social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MySpace, etc.) for your website, remember to always put some social media "buttons" around your website, for people to share your website, or to just link to your Facebook page. Remember the team of workers you hired? You will have to dedicate one team to the management of your social media platforms, where information are to be updated daily and customer questions to be answered just as promptly. This is something that you are able to reach to all the different groups of consumers, and definitely not a force to be lightly taken. Whatever it is, just remember to have social media if you want to succeed. 

• EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE

Never ever forget that an ebusiness is no different from a regular company, where customer service is the most important in the process of sustaining your company. Ensure that you are able to fulfill what you have promised to your customer, payment has to be secure and quick, and delivery of orders have to be prompt and efficient - never to be slower than stipulated time on the website, and to handle all complaints and bad reviews with the grace of a lady. Remember that customers are able to post reviews on forums or discussion boards, and that word of mouth (even through the computer screen) is much more influential than what you can imagine. 

All in all, remember that you may be an owner of an ecommerce website, but you are consumer at the same time. Just think of what you would like to see, and you would have won have the battle.