Security

First and foremost make sure your Zen Cart is fully patched! No exceptions. Your Zen Cart you just downloaded and installed still needs these.

Now, do these items on Zen Cart's recommended security list. On this list please ignore the following. If you choose to do these things, your robots.txt cannot be accessed and the php command will not work properly for you in most server environments.

#.htaccess to prevent unauthorized directory browsing or access to .php
files
IndexIgnore */*
<Files *.php>
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
</Files>
#add the following to protect against people discovering what version your
spiders.txt file is
<Files *.txt>
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
</Files>

Now, lets add some cool stuff to help you stay safe.

Tip #1: Use strong passwords for everything! Change them every 30 days.

Tip #2: When renaming your admin DO NOT use any admin or business related
term. Try banana for example, something like manage, control or anything XXadmin is a dead guess for most hackers to discover your admin directory.

Tip #3: Make sure all admins have their OWN accounts and install this module to track their access more conveniently.

Tip #4: Protect your admin directory with an additional auth when possible. Perhaps you can password protect the directory or allow access by IP address for example.

# password-protect the directory
AuthType basic
AuthName "This directory is protected"
AuthUserFile /home/path/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
Require valid-user

# deny all except
<Limit GET POST PUT>
order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from 192.168.1.1
allow from .*domain\.com.*
</Limit>

Tip #5: Protect ALL directories from browsing with an index.html file. This file can be blank, it just prevents the directory from displaying in an index to browse. If a folder has an index.anything... It's protected.

Tip #6: Protect your images directories (all) with the following .htaccess to prevent browsing, executing php files and more. These directories will also need an index file. When done, login to your hosting control panel and change the permissions on both the index.html and .htaccess files to 444 to prevent modification.

#PRO-Webs ver 1.8 1/2010
#Prevent directory viewing and the ability of any scripts to run.
#While a bit overkill this file prevents a wide array of access and executions
#of known exploits in your Zen Cart
#This file and a index.html should have the chmod 444
#This low setting allowance differs from server to server and should be set as
#low as possible and no higher that 644
#Permissions this low will likely need set in filemanager
#Place this in all images directories except BMZ_Cache
Options -ExecCGI -Indexes
IndexIgnore *
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} libwww [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^(.*)=http [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [F,L]
<Files .htaccess>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>
<Files ~ "\.php$">
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
</Files>
chmod .htaccess files 444

Tip #7: If you have an SSL force all of your admin pages to load in only secured urls with the following htaccess code.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /admin_dir/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://domain.com/admin_dir/$1 [R,L]

Tip #8: Make sure your cache folder has the correct index.php and .htaccess. Download a fresh version of Zen Cart and upload them to be sure. Now CHMOD, change the permissions of these to 444.

I may be adding to this, as we are always testing... so stay tuned.

Ecommerce Marketing

Internet use is still growing year after year, and as more and more people have Internet access, more and more small businesses are recognizing the importance of integrating some form of ecommerce / online catalog as part of their business marketing portfolio. The Internet never goes offline, and websites are accessible every hour of the day - there are no opening and closing times on the Internet serving a worldwide market.

For the average person, the ability to be able to shop from the comfort home is a very welcome idea, and is becoming a very popular method of purchasing goods... Even for mobile users! Those customers who still prefer the tangibility of a brick and mortar store, the Internet still provides a way of researching the products they are interested in, to compare different prices, gain product knowledge and prepare to make an educated decisions without salesman pressure.

Another advantage of the Internet is its worldwide reach. Small business retailers no longer have to have brick & mortar stores in many different geographical locations to become a national brand - by selling on the web, they can get their product seen by a much larger audience.

However, it is not as simple as setting up online and customers automatically come flocking to your shop; a lot of hard work needs to go into developing, promoting and securing your online store, thus tackling many of the same related start up and maintenance issues with a brick and mortar store. The biggest difference is cost, while you may end up paying a couple of thousand dollars to properly develop your shopping cart... you will still be saving on start up fees, rent and other traditional business overhead costs These savings can then be passed on to the shoppers, making your business more competitive in its niche.

Undoubtedly then, a small business with a Internet promotable product would be foolish to overlook the power of the ecommerce. Businesses should plan and look to incorporate some form of ecommerce into their current business marketing portfolio. Be aware, however, as major differences exist between selling online and selling in real life, and you will need to build up a high level of trust with Internet customers... In perhaps ways you are not yet accustomed to.

Ugh!

I guess one of the most disappointing things we deal with in our business is the "ugly" or "darkside" of how others deliver web services. There is not a single day that goes by where some website owner doesn't contact us with issues related to the development, design or even ownership of their site. Everything from broken promises and deceit to outright performance issues send these customers hunting for a "new webmaster".

We have dealt with some very disheartening issues for our clients. They call and need to move their site to proper hosting and can't because they don't have access, they find they do not own their domain registration, they have been locked out of and charged for GPL/free built in software functionality or their webmaster flew the coop.

While these issues do pain me, I have decided that all we can do is provide quality, honesty and transparency in our own business. So to that end, I am providing prospective new website owners the following list of tips and precautions before choosing a designer/developer and beginning a website project.

1. NEVER, EVER let a designer register your domain in his/her name. If this is how they insist on doing business, then find a professional.
2. Make sure you have full access to your hosting services, including support. If they want to host you in their account, then insist that you obtain your own hosting. If they refuse to play ball... find another.
3. Know what you want and need. Develop a list of the functions, look and services you need. Provide this list to several prospective developers and make them explain how these options are best accomplished. Those that cannot .... get dumped.
4. Know your software. If you choose a software driven site, such as Zen Cart, read and learn about the software. Buy a manual and really know what you are getting, then find a developer with a great deal of experience with your chosen software. This really matters, you see a general web designer cannot handle developing a Zen Cart project for example. They will only hack, crack and break the software functionality with their inexperience.... Costing you upgrade, development and repair money in the future.
5. Be ready to work.... This is your website right? There really isn't any money for nothing going on here... That is a bullshit lie propagated by people who would seek to take advantage of you long term. If it sounds to good to be true, it is.
6. Do not rely on a sole person or company for the maintenance of your website.... People go missing all the time. Make sure you have a backup person and you are able to provide them the needed access (hosting logins, FTP and admin information) to help you in a pinch.
7. Remember when you hire a professional, they are the professional. If this person tells you something is a really bad idea, you should likely listen.... are you a web developer?
8. Insist on a development time frame and frequent updates. Development schedules get busted up all the time, but you need a plan and to be kept abreast of the setbacks and new expected schedule forecasts.
9. Check your developer out. Contact owners of some of the websites in their portfolio... Better yet, send links to each of the prospective developers of each others sites and ask for their opinion =-). Google the developer or company name looking for the good, bad and ugly comments you may find. Really check them out, this is alot of money to simply throw away.
10. Ask alot of questions! Every single thing you want, need to know, or do not understand needs to be asked.... This is your website and you need to know.

It's also a good thing to user a designer/webmaster that has more than email access for support and questions, what if you are not at your computer and your site is down?

Being successful on the web takes a great deal of dedication and learning, all you do is in a constant state of change in this business. You never stop learning, adding new content and building links.... This is the cost of Internet success, make sure you are ready to pay it up.

Ecommerce Security

Maintaining the security of your shopping cart is an ongoing issue, it was before, it is now and will remain so. If you’re a small business with a website trying to break into this fresh, but competitive market, shopping cart software integrated to your website would certainly be a great investment. However, several issues will need to be addressed in your planning and maintenance budget. The more significant will be the issue of maintaining your shopping cart security. This help to protect the privacy and financial information of you and that of your shopper's.

Shopping Cart Security

Let’s begin with the basic concept of online shopping carts. Shopping carts are online software applications which facilitate visitors to make purchases by shopping on the Internet, which are generally paid electronically by some means. If you already have, or plan to have an online store, you will need a reliable and secure web host to host your shopping cart application. You also need shopping cart software that is easy enough to use and functional to your current and near future needs. Additionally, unless you house PHP programmers and web designers in house, you will need a company who develops shopping carts. Note that a developer is neither a programmer, nor a designer, but rather the person responsible for the project completion... Like a contractor, some things they will do and other things like custom programming and design they will have contracted parties complete for you.

A shopping cart at its most basic description is the added website functionality of a check out, which generates the total purchase, computes for the shipping costs, records the needed personal information and processes the payment to the chosen Gateway or online collection service you choose. The most commonly recognized security aspect of the shopping cart lies on the Secured Socket Layer certificate or SSL which encrypts the transmission of the personal information entered by customers up until the time the information reaches the payment gateway. The SSL is the responsible for making the pages address prefixed with “https”.  Meanwhile, the payment gateway or credit cart gateway is receives the information, validates and charges the purchase on the credit card with their own software. Upon validation, you cart is notified and the transaction is complete.

It is important that you let your customers know that you have done your part to make the website secure and hack free. Never underestimate your shoppers. If they feel that something is not right with a your shopping cart, they will most likely leave without purchasing.

To most effectively do business online, you will not only let your shoppers know that you are secure, but practice what you preach as well. Keep your shopping cart, server software and other applications like email up to date ... always. Have your shop scanned quarterly for PCI/DSS compliance... If you accept credit cards, PCI compliance is not negotiable, but rather required.

Be clear and accurate about your shopping cart policies and guidelines. I know it might be tempting to use various legal and marketing tricks, but, you need to remember that your store's visitors are not experts and presenting them with a policy or guideline that is high complicated and overly difficult to understand will reflect on your business’ reputation.... Many will leave for an easier purchase at the next click.

We can only stress the importance of security in these kinds of ecommerce applications. I have heard, same as anyone else, stories of identity thefts before and so have your customers. Most consumers will be looking for shopping carts that can protect them from possible theft of credit card and personal information.

One of the most crucial pieces of a secure network is to use the services of well respected and secure service providers and web hosts. That being said, you may choose wrong early on, be ready to move your website if you need to. While many web hosting companies will make moving your shopping cart seem daunting and impossible... Its not and you have to do what is right for your business.  Spend  some time checking on theses service providers and get to know them.

The bottom line is, you must maintain a secure shopping cart for your customers. You have tons of valid and robust options at  your disposal in the current market, so having an insecure or out of date  network or cart is totally inexcusable.

1. The number one thing to do is this list of tweaks and trick to speed up your Zen Cart supplied by Zen-Cart.com. I suggest you follow this great list of Zen Cart configurations closely to make a big difference in your Zen Cart performance.
2. Images are a problem for most store owners... We want them and they slow down our stores. So, I suggest a few tips on images for your Zen Cart: Use images only as big as you really need; reduce the number of colors in images to reduce their file size.... and install Image Handler2 for Zen Cart to cache, compress and re size images easily and efficiently.
3. SQL queries can be a real problem for Zen Cart, your store generates a huge amount of queries for most functions. Reducing the number of queries can be very quickly done using the Query Cache Module from Data Diggers. This module is lite, easy to install and will cache queries for your admin and catalog sections of Zen Cart... In most cases this will drop about 30% off of your query load time.
4. Caching images and queries is great... But add the ability to cache pages and control the cached time is a real load time saver for your Zen Cart. I recommend this Zen Cart performance module from MagneticOne.
5. Lastly, and this one is the easiest of all.... Backup your database weekly and then under Tools in your Zen Cart administration section, select the Store Manager and do these 2 things weekly to help maintain the performance level of your store and database. First, the very top button for Empty Admin Activity Log table from the database: Click reset; Then the last selection on the page is Optimize Database:  Click Confirm... Do this is a non peak period.

There you have it... Quick easy and very inexpensively make your Zen Cart Cook!

We are not affiliated with MagneticOne in any way and make this recommendation based on our experience with the module and its ability to cache and speed your Zen Cart up. We have received no compensation for this recommendation from MagneticOne or anyone else to say this... It is of our own free will and choice.

In pursuance of the PCI Security Standards Council's current license agreement (10/2008), SSL Version 2.0 with previously noted vulnerabilities will no longer be supported by credit card gateways.

Authorize.net, has specifically decided to drop all legacy support for SSL V. 2.0 during the week of March 16 - 20, 2009. If you plan to accept credit cards you will need to be certain your web hosting is not only designed for your
Zen Cart, but also that the web host is PCI compliant with V. 3.0 SSL as well as the other PCI standards required & recommended.

Authorize.net has clearly noted the following in a recent email alert.

Failure to upgrade their applications or integrations may result in a lost
ability to successfully process transactions via the Authorize.Net Payment
Gateway.

You are advised to contact your web host and/or web developer immediately to secure proper SSL 3.0 if your web host has not already upgraded. The upgrade should yield little or no downtime or disturbance.
Please note that this is no mistake and if you do not have SSL 3.0 compliant hosting, you will not be able to continue to process credit cards, as the gateway communications MUST be transmitted via SSL 3.0. SSL 2.0 is no longer supported under the compliance requirements. For additional support please contact your credit card processing provider.

I think right out of the box ecommerce owners will have to compete with better and more user friendly options. Additional shipping options, checkout options including checking out without and account and navigation strategy will be very key elements.

Many Americans have been burned on sneaky eBay style shipping tricks. Online shoppers are very cautious and un-trusting regarding shipping issues. This will be a major player in the success of any online store in 2009. I have some suggestions to improve your current shipping processes...

• Clearly post your shipping... At the very least shoppers MUST be able to get a shipping quote from the cart page. If you can manage flat rate or free shipping, you will find great success. NEVER, have any shipping disclaimers where you intend to recalculate shipping after the sale... This will send most of your shoppers running for the hills.
• Offer a small selection of relevant shipping options. Shoppers want options, but too many shipping options will send them packing packing as well.
• Your shipping rules must be clear and easily located. I strongly suggest you include a shipping summary in your checkout, as shoppers will rarely navigate to the shipping page to find the information.
• Your shipping should contain and estimated delivery time... Without it, shoppers can be easily convinced to pay more elsewhere for a promised shipping date.
• Post your phone number. If you are not making your businesses phone number clearly available on your site... You are just screwing yourself in too many ways to count.

US and other shoppers worldwide are sick and tired of spam... They have been tricked, spammed and basically misled by so many websites. Convincing a shopper to trust your site is a very substantial challenge. Checkout options and other related store functions will help to build trust and convert sales very effectively.

• Your shoppers need the opportunity to checkout without creating a store account. They are sick of all the store accounts and lost usernames and passwords. If your software cannot be made to allow checking out without an account then look in to PayPal Express or Google Checkout for these leery shoppers.
• Remove ALL login and account creation type language from your checkout. Many software platforms can be made to appear like there is no account being created just by changing the language to reflect a transaction rather than and account creation. Dump that login box and grow your sales in 2009.
• Get an SSL to encrypt your transactions and tell folks you have it to protect their online transactions with your store. Again, make your phone number readily available to build trust and let shoppers know you are a "real" business.
• Shorten up your checkout and remove distractions preventing your shoppers from purchasing. This one is just a simple and logical step to increase the revenue you are getting from your existing level of visits and prevent checkout abandonment. Shorten up your checkout as much as you can... Lets face it, if your shoppers had a bunch of time to waste they would shop at Wal Mart. Remove unnecessary menus and click able things to get your shopper off track and not checking out. Once they decide to give you money... LET THEM!
• Clearly post on your site and checkout the payment options your shoppers have. I cannot tell you how many times I have went all the way through someones checkout to find a credit card field and I have NO CLUE which cards they accept and have to then search for their policy regarding payment... Which of course causes me to LEAVE CHECKOUT.
• Make certain your shoppers can track their orders... Even if they checkout without an account.

Navigation and flow control are so crucial to your website... Likely the most important factor of all. Many shop owners haven't even a clue as to how their site is navigated... OR NOT. I have some simple tips to help you to improve your site's navigation and thus improve the average time on your site, making a sale far more likely.

• You know your products, sure, but do your shoppers?  Nothing irritates me more than a menu I cannot navigate. When planning your categories and menu use real language... Stuff even I can understand.
• Categorize your products logically and in a few different ways. Shopper A knows he is looking for a "Gadget B", but has no clue that it is a child category under "Gadgets"... But he know this gadget is what he needs to complete the work on his RC car, and that its a "part". So he will likely navigate more effectively to this gadget using a menu group called "RC Car Parts". While Shopper B knows full well that that part will be located under "Gadgets" as he is no novice RC builder.
• Do usability studies... I tell shop owners this ALL THE TIME, and usually they fail miserably. Pay, beg, ask or bait regular people to shop in your store and report what they find back to you. Use a logical collection of test shoppers and include a kid, like 13 to 17 years old... As they will really tell you how it is. Now, when your reports come in, DO NOT GET DEFENSIVE, this is about improvement... A defensive reaction will accomplish nothing but no improvement. So if you HAVE TO always be right... Just skip this, because you are of course right... Right?
• Have a good long look at your use of page real estate... How much information is above the fold (the point where a visitor must scroll). Are you using this space wisely? Did you know that you have about 15 seconds to engage a new visitor... and that they are 80% more likely to read text in this 15 seconds?
• Colors have many psychological properties and can be used to assist a shopper in finding your products and then in making the proper buying and checkout decisions without having to flounder around. Green is a perfect color for action links and buttons. Red really is a stop color, use it to draw attention to a product or attribute very effectively. However, if your checkout button is red... You screwed up.
• Have a good long look at your product page layout. Is it effective, fast and easy to navigate. What if I purchased this product before.... Going to make me hunt down your add to cart button?
• Cross selling related products within your product and category pages is not only effective marketing, but effective navigation as well. For 25 plus years I was a restaurant manager and one thing I learned is that when you suggestive sell a product properly it is helpful to the patron... Not a bother or inconvenience. Shoppers and patrons alike have this in common... They pay little or no attention to the details of much of anything collectively and genuinely require your assistance.

So I have to say if you are looking to grow your online store in 2009 then these items above will have the best and fastest return on your time or money investment. Another restaurant managers lesson is to get the most dollars and purchases out of your existing customers first. Build your check average and grow your sales.

You most easily accomplish this by starting with an honest marketing and business model first. You must answer some tough questions like:

1. What types of services or products will you be selling with your online store? (Now and in the future as you grow)
2. What is your targeted area/region or customer base age, gender...? (Demographics)
3. What other companies will you form relationships with? (Distribution, etc.)
4. What kind of budget does your store development project have? (A real budget... Never over extend)
5. What is your plan for marketing and information distribution? (PPC, local marketing etc..)
6. Is your brand or company name well known or rich enough to include in your domain effectively? (Probably not)
7. What is the potential traffic for your store's products/services? (What are others in the same niche doing?)
8. How much or deep is the competition? (Who's on top and what do you have to do to beat them?)
9. Are you serious about making a successful commerce store... or have you big dreams and little execution?

There are a really host of things to consider in your domain name selection... some you can control and some you really cannot. Obviously, domain availability is one that is generally out of your control. If the name you "must have" is already registered, you might attempt to purchase it for a substantially higher investment. I strongly suggest you have a qualified SEO check it out first as there a many tricks and issues which can spoil the deal... and get a domain broker to handle the purchase for you... Would you sell your house using a car salesman?. Then, realize for certain, this is going to cost a great deal more than 10 bucks... So set your budget and stick to it.  Secondly, there are certain rules and restrictions regarding domain name registration.

• Domain names over 26 characters are supported in most web browsers, but many email, programs, and form fields will not be able to handle them. For reasons beyond my comprehension, however, in most extensions you can register up to 63 characters long.

• Domain names cannot begin or end with a hyphen.

• Names can only include English letters, numbers, and hyphens. For most TLD extensions the name must be 3 letters or longer.

Generally speaking, if you plan to target your home country (or another) you will benefit from registering a country level/coded domain and hosting physically residing in that country as well. If you are seeking a global market, then I suggest .com for a business or .net if you have to. If you are an organization or group, then .org would be perfect. In the United States, there is the .us, which I am personally against registering your business with this as it's main url.. Because it is not widely known, you lose some marketing juice and it is NOT a standard TLD and does not have all the same abilities for its use as a result.  If you own the .com and redirect one or the other, then that would be fine and helps to seal your "brand" development from squatters. I am also very much against the .cc, I know some one with a .cc website... A rather large market, that literally loses hundreds of lost customers to the .com business (which is in the same field) simply because the .com extension is so familiar they know its a "C" and boom they're gone.

Now for some nuts and bolts.... Keyword(s) in your domain name can help you some, if they are relevant and do not inhibit a shopper's ability to remember your domain name. Some will have to consider whether to chose the keyword path, a brand/company domain name or a snappy easily marketed domain name. Most times you cannot accomplish all of these metrics. That's where your planning and research comes in to play. I will say this in no uncertain terms, using your business name your business name is probably going to fail you for a very, very long time (unless it's Pepsi, Coke or Google =-)). There is no valid reason you cannot chose a potentially more successful domain to market now and register, but market your business' domain later (Buy both). There are some things you might think about when you start plodding though the hundreds of possible names for your web store.

1. It should be natural language and make sense.
2. I avoid using numbers for words and letters for abbreviated words. "like hot4U". The reason is, people will not always remember these things, and it will not take long for some squatter to register the "mistake" domains and sweep your precious traffic away. (Not Bf4.com for example)
3. Avoid hyphens. This one is a very highly argued topic. So here's the scoop. If your keywords have high enough search volume... You DO NOT need to separate them with anything to get the value of the keyword picked out or the word(s). If you need to check and see if the search engines know your keyword, just Google it, and look at your keyword in the highlighted words of the search results in the URLs/domains. If you do use a hyphen, keep it to one, people will mess up and not find you. (Trust me)
4. Try to pick something snappy and very easy to remember, word of mouth is FREE and effective marketing.
5. Shorter is better and if you cannot spell it.... HMM DUH.
6. Avoid using the automated tool suggested domains from tools like..."my..." or "the..." they are just unnecessarily irrelevant additions and are probably a good way to register your domain too similar to someone else's, and when a visitor forgets that irrelevant addition... They other guy will get the visitor.

Here are a couple of quick domain and search related tools you might find helpful. Google trends is a nice way to not only to check up on the search volume of your keywords, but a trended history as well. A good stable history or recent stable upward volume trends can let you know you are on the right track. When you are trying to choose a domain name, DomainsBot will sort your words in many different ways and let you know what is available with some alternate suggestions.

Good luck with your store!

While I would advise against pumping your brand /company name in things like page titles, there is a very long reaching value to marketing your brand in your domain name.  While your brand name very likely does not carry any search volume or notoriety yet, you cannot exclude your brand from your development.  If you for example go with a keyword rich domain name and fail to register your brand of company domain names and derivatives you may find yourself with a traffic sucker in the future.  Certainly for the traffic sucker or domain flipper there are valid reasons for registering domain names like your business name.  How would it suit you to have a spammy Ads page at a domain name which seemingly represents your company?  This WILL happen if you do not register them.

Since this is such a big decision we have some pointers below to help you make a solid domain name choice for your store.

1. If the .com and .net versions cannot both be registered to you then move to another name.
2. If you are going with a keyword rich domain name... Dashes are NOT required most of the time.  Google and other search engines will pull or stem these keywords from other connecting letters as long as there is enough volume in the keyword's search volume.  If you want to know for example, whether Google stems your keywords simply search for that keyword by itself and look to see that Google has bolded it in urls or domain names.  If you find it anywhere in the url in the search query, then Google knows this word.
3. Plan on registering a few domain names.  Misspellings, product based, brand/company names, and your second choice/runner up domain name as well.  This is like an insurance policy for your company.
4. Domain names as a rule are now required to be 3 or more characters.
5. Skip the dashes and underlines.
6. Shorter is better and snappy is awesome!
7. The terminology should be natural.  If you are looking to register "store4u", then you would also seek to register and redirect "storeforyou", "store4you", and "storeforu" in both the .net and .com versions.  Again, do not become easy pickens' for traffic suckers.
8. Avoid "my", "your", etc and other pronoun based domain names suggested by tools.  These will only send traffic to the name that does not use the pronoun as users will frequently forget these.
9. Register your main name (at least this one) for more than one year, as the search engines tend to favor the investment with a small bit of trust score.
10. If you are in the US your REALLY need to have the .com, it is the most common and recognized tld extension.
11. Avoid very hard to spell or commonly misspelled words, unless you register those misspelling also.

Domains that are easy to remember will fare better in all of your marketing campaigns.  If a shopper is using email or a social media type venue to convey your "Great" store to another... You might want them to type is right, as this is not only a top notch referral, but very likely to be a good old fashioned organic backlink as well.

There is no arguing the fact that there is some ranking value in a keyword rich domain, it is not however enough benefit to lose the ability for users to remember your domain name.  Just like anything else... Balance.

Overall Internet users have become more sensitive and aware of the factors which are considered "trust" violations. Surfers are quite skilled in identifying a "bad site" and are reacting accordingly. No longer do droves of Internet users mindlessly click ads or provide personal information, those days are gone. We are in the dawn of a far more savvy Internet user.

Some mistakes we see are in fact very common and very out of date, others are just plain lack of foresight. Today we will cover some of the most common trust reducing metrics we have found in the stores we have analyzed. You may well know that we develop and optimize Zen Cart, so some factors will be directly related to the Zen Cart software, but most of these store trust issues are very common in other e-commerce platforms.

• If you are using a shared SSL or none at all, you are sending a message of distrust to your shoppers. Even full PayPal or other off site processing accounts should make use of a private SSL. Customers don't even want to provide their email address without one. Honestly for the cost involved there is no valid reason not to use a proper secured protocol for your users.
• If you are using a private SSL, the battle does not stop there. Many times we visit a site and the secured pages include outside non-secure links or elements. Shoppers have no idea that these links or elements are generally just part of your template, and they don't care either. They only know the lock is showing broken and they feel unprotected.
• Let shoppers know you have installed an SSL to protect their transaction and what to look for to assure it is working. This is really not necessary as most know already, but it sends the message that you personally have taken steps to protect them.
• Collect as little information as possible on checkout. Shoppers do not want to answer unrelated personal information questions. Questions of this nature only lead them to believe you are somehow hording and using their information for other means.
• Enhance your checkout with helpful tips and notes to let shoppers know where they are in the checkout process and that they are on track. This includes a clear shipping policy for rates and delivery. They should know their shipping choices in the very beginning of checkout, as sites like eBay and such have burned shoppers with inflated shipping charges and they are very wary if they do not know the shipping cost before the begin to checkout
• Send ALL customers a receipt from YOUR store's domain email address and provide tracking or an update of shipment to EVERY customer without fail. Sure your processor will send them a receipt, but lack of your own receipt does not build any trust and makes you look less than professional.
• Do not under any circumstances allow your product catalog or checkout to have an unbranded template or theme. Shoppers have been abused by the entire affiliate sales phenomena and are very wise to such changes. I highly recommend you do not even redirect to a different url for anything, but if you must the template/theme must remain branded consistently throughout.
• Do not monetize your store or link out to sponsored ads and such. They have come to your store to make a purchase from you, not to be fed off to another site. Not to mention you are screwing yourself out of sales by letting them click away.
• If you use an off site processor like PayPal, you must return shoppers to a checkout success page. Otherwise you leave them wondering about the transaction and this is not likely to produce a return sale or referral from the shopper.
• Trust seals can be very costly. Most are pretty effective in gaining a trusting relationship from a shopper. However, if you are using a seal of any kind and have faked the resulting certification page... The shopper is leaving. For example, I see the PayPal verified seal on sites all the time that goes nowhere, no link at all. I have also seen such verification services lead the shopper to a self hosted page... Shoppers are not this dumb, they click these items as they already know what to expect on the other end. If you can't install or afford a proper verification result, then use none.
• Open your visitors experience with a mission statement or store information, do not hard sell them as soon as they load the page. Nothing is worse than that jewelry salesperson who stalks you around the store, and shoppers not only hate this, but realize good products do not require this type of technique.
• Provide good product images. Shoppers understand the color issue with monitor compatibility, but the do not want to see disclaimers regarding your product description or image. Statements such as "delivered product style may vary from image and description" do not exactly illicit trust.
• Cross selling is a very valuable tool if you understand suggestive selling and are keeping the shoppers needs in mind. Sell only related products to a customer, and only a few items as shoppers really do get confused as to what they "need" to buy in addition to the selection for compatibility and such.
• Your contact information, preferably a toll free number MUST be easy to locate. Contact pages are adequate, but a large font top side toll free number tells the shopper you are a "real" business.
• Never, ever send emails of any kind related to your store from a non-domain email account. How cheesy is it to buy something and receive a follow up email from the store owners GMail account?
• Provide an address for your store on your contact page, even if it is home based. Shoppers are very aware that many people work from home, but failing to do this only tells them you are hiding something. You do not trust them, why should they trust you. Even a PO Box is better than skipping this trust factor.
• Lastly, and you would really think this is the most obvious of all... Do not sell products you don't believe in or know well enough to provide customer support for.

Building trust is a highly effective sales tool, regardless of the fact that its the right thing to do. Shoppers are not alone in looking at these trust metrics, search engines use many of the above mentioned elements to score your trust within their ranking system as well. If you are not sending a message of trust to your shoppers, you are running a dying business as it will never build the referral and return sales you need to succeed.

1. Make good use of your store's page real estate. You get about 15 seconds max to engage a shopper and this happens in the eyeline and header area. Pay very special attention to the top left and make both good visual and textual use of these areas. (Believe it or not surfers generally scan the text first)



2. Your search function is a high priority and warrants top quality real estate. The absolute best place is near the top left of the header. Most people will search first, as they are have generally been conditioned to expect poor navigation and the inability to find what they are seeking using a site's menus.
3. Sales text and special savings are very much at home and appropriate in the eyeline text area. Remember, engage them... Not chase shoppers off.
4. Your menu is a crucial piece both for users and organic search indexing. The main menu should be highly relevant and topside. Right hand column menus may look cool, but in my experience shoppers are put off by them. Ancillary pages like shipping information and terms of service do not belong here. Down to the low income real estate with those links, if a shopper needs them they will look for them and find them... Most shoppers have little or no need for them.
5. Relevancy and content concentration may be great for Google, but not always so accommodating for your shoppers. Your products need to be within three clicks of your main page, and less is better.
6. I realize we all want great organic search rankings, but if you cannot convert the traffic... What's the point? Use logical ordering, user friendly text and naturally named categories and sub-categories. Shoppers will convert better.
7. DO NOT IGNORE YOUR CATEGORY PAGES. This is a very, very common mistake among the sites we have analyzed. You see, product pages have a very nice and tight topic with which to rank with, and category pages are next in ability to rank. Their content is far less broad than your shop's main page and they can additionally chase more keywords and longtails with their slightly broader content.
8. Is your company name WalMart? No? Then stick to a product array which is densely relevant. Hey, if you find another great product line and it's not related, then build a new store. Keep your store's product scope and theme tight.
9. I can certainly understand the weakness we all feel, but, please limit your cross-sells and hard sells. Shoppers really are confused by too many options, and rightly so. Shoppers are also put off by overly persistent hard selling techniques. (kind of like that damn car salesman chasing you around the lot!)
10. Your checkout has to be short and sweet. Do not collect unnecessary information from shoppers or hold them up in checkout any longer than necessary. Online shoppers are very fickle about filling out these long and redundant forms... Not to mention Internet users as a whole are increasingly sensitive about the type and amount of information they provide anyone.

Okay, so I lied I have one more word to the wise......

NEVER, EVER USE PAY PER CLICK ADS IN YOUR STORE!

If your margin is so bad that you can afford to send a potential sale away for a nickel, then get a job at McDonalds... It pays better.

E-Commerce for All!

As I try to be a positive person with an outgoing influence, we will start our journey with the positive things you can do to develop a great sales minded business plan for your store.

Many of you will have surpassed this step already, but it defiantly bares investigation. The most important thing you can do for your business is be very intimate with your product(s), passionate even. When you are beginning your "dreaming" stages of your own online business if you consider nothing else, then consider choosing a product related to something you enjoy and great deal... And hopefully are skilled and informed about. This decision can absolutely make or break your business and is additionally a cornerstone for success.

The second thing you will need to consider is a great business plan. Certainly if you have the operating budget then I would highly suggest you retain a professional to help you with a proper business plan. In lieu of such a generous operating budget then get some help from business owners, teacher, or other professionals you know... Draw on the resources in your network to gain some insight in to the cost, surprises and operational pitfalls of owning your own business. You will need a financial plan and budget for at least the first year and the planned budget to support it.

Make certain you have read all of the fine print and have spoken directly to a qualified sales rep for the product line you intend to sell. Ask a million questions regarding the fees, shipping costs and rules, product warranties, return policies, and anything else you can think of. Its not a very joyous thing to receive your very first order in you brand new store and be unable to ship the product or worse lose money on the deal as you have mis-planned the margin and markup.

As the development time approaches you are faced with a whole new set of decisions and costs. Ideally, unless you are very competent in the shopping cart software you are going to be using get someone to develop your online store. This is a very important step and equally able to sink your ship if you make a wrong or misinformed decision. There are admittedly more costs involved in a self-hosted shopping cart solution, but these costs are upfront and far outweigh the pitfalls of hosted shopping carts. Remember, if it way that easy everyone would have a store and be #1.

Hosted shopping carts are as a rule unable to deliver the marketing and organic ranking ability of a self-hosted cart. This is true for many reasons, not withstanding the more than obvious lack of control over most necessary optimization protocols. Do the math, at $24.95 a month for a hosted shopping cart with low organic ranking and decreased conversion ability over $1000 to $2500 up front for a shopping cart that innately has the ability to deliver and is not subject to someone else's decisions and rules. Ask for help to make this decision, get quotes and check references... Don't be shy, this is YOUR business we are talking about. Would the new owner of a brick and mortar business hire just anyone to erect his new building?

I think the most important word of advice I can give any prospective shop owner is to stay hungry and dedicated to doing things the right way the first time. Start clean, set up your store properly and maintain it constantly. Eliminate the possibility for common pitfalls like duplication and poor SEO right from the start. What is the point of spending your time and money to build your store on a house of cards. Many common optimization issues I see in the stores we complete reports for are so very simple to fix, before they happen, and so very, very expensive and time consuming to fix after they have been ignored.

Resist the urge... Do not allow your store to be indexed and crawled until it is ready to go. Many developers and shop owners alike will allow their store to be indexed during development and literally screw themselves in the process. Only great pages should ever be indexed, and seriously during development are they great pages?

Optimize your checkout for extreme usability... Test it, get others to test it, then test it some more. This is the grandest opportunity you have to make AND lose sales. Spend the money and get a merchant account and gateway, PayPal is great but it will not convert enough sales for your store to be successful per capita. Invest in an SSL, this is not an option any longer as consumers are becoming more and more educated about their online security and privacy.

Analyze your site daily, you will find that with fresh eyes everyday you find the details to help you succeed. Do not be afraid to test your theories, there is no such thing as a bad sales idea... Unless you lack the fortitude to try it. A common mistake many shop owners make is to change something immediately and without thought for the comments of one customer. You will get no argument from me that every customers comments or feedback bare investigation... Just not necessarily immediate action.

Not to bore you, but I have a great story for this very mistake. Many of you know I was a restaurant manager for most of my life, so I have seen some really dumb things. One frozen January morning I rolled in to my store and mindlessly migrated to the coffee pot on the servers line, as I had done everyday before... Grabbed my coffee and proceeded to my office. I sat down at my desk to read the mountain of sticky notes and took a big slug of my coffee, and spit all over my computer screen.

UGH, the coffee could strip paint it was so strong. I returned to the server line to locate the server who had dealt me this early morning surprise and ask her if she was planning to clean the exhaust hoods with this toxic brew. She very cheerfully informed me that at 3am or so a customer had told her the coffee was too weak, so she doubled the scoops to correct this grievous problem. You could in very honest clarity see the light bulb over her head when I asked what the other 300 customers yesterday had thought. So, investigate and do not get caught up in reaction style management as you will eventually fail.

I hope you have been able to take away something useful from my early morning... Pre-coffee ramblings. I certainly invite you to comment with anything you wish to share from your own experiences and look forward to seeing you back soon.

Melanie Prough