So you want to be a Shop Owner Series Conclusion

By this point your new ecommerce store is in the final development stages and you will soon be able to add products and begin to sell your products. No doubt this is an exciting prospect, but the final development stages and adding your products and categories is by far the most crucial piece of any e-commerce store’s development.  The decisions you make now regarding the category structure, navigation and layout tweaking for your online store can easily make or break any shopping cart project’s success.

Lets get started with adding products and categories.  Whether you or a store development company is adding your products and categories to your store matters little… There are some extremely important decisions to be made in categorization and product grouping.  The biggest problem with this organizational stage of development is the “lack of forgiveness” for mistakes.  You see, once your category structure in laid out and indexed by the search engines, you really do NOT want to change the structure.  Not only do changes of this magnitude cause “flux” for your site’s search rank in Google, but MANY times changing a product category, name or group will cause the page’s url to change.  This can be VERY bad, especially on a large scale and can cause your site to be temporarily pulled from Google’s index or sandboxed.  This sandboxing period in which Google attempts to digest your content and determine if it is trusted can last a very long time. The longest sandboxing I have seen was 90 days.

About the sandbox: While in the sandbox, all or some, of your store’s pages will be pulled from Google’s index.  This “Sandbox effect” seems to be occurring less and less, but for new and low authority site’s the danger still exists. They are not only not search-able, but not in the index at all.  Large scale content and page changes can easily cause this and there is no clear way to remedy it.  The length of time in the sandbox is directly related to many factors within Google’s ranking algorithm.  I believe the most weighted ranking conditions are related to the site’s index score and TrustRank.  In a nutshell, does Google trust your site?

If you happen to get yourself sandboxed, again little can be done but wait.  However, you might build some strong, organic, one way links to the sandboxed pages.  Build and submit a new sitemap to Google and check that you have good PCI compliance type metrics in place, such as privacy page and a proper SSL.  If you are not accepting credit cards, shame on you, but… You do not need an SSL.  However, IF you are going to use one, DO NOT use a crappy shared SSL… This only hurts you in the long run.  Many times, shoppers are presented with the broken lock or a pop up regarding your SSL, which genuinely disrupts that shopper’s desire to checkout… No SSL would be better, as at least they are not alerted to the site’s inadequacies.

So while naming your products, sorting the category structure and making url re-writing and dynamic content choices… Please make well thought out choices from the beginning to avoid headaches later.  Some quick notes to consider when setting up product page titles and navigation….

1. Do not include YOUR product number in your product titles and urls, as this is garbage content for the search engines and has ZERO search volume.
2. Do not include the price in your urls and product titles… While this may have its merits, the ability for it to bite you in the ass is far greater as search engines don’t update the search results as quickly as you would like and for many days/weeks searchers will get the wrong price in the search results.  Lets just say for example your distributor raised your prices 5% and you will have to obviously follow suit… Hopefully you have a nice administration tool like quick updates to make this change site wide, so you make the change easily…. But you have now changed every single product page title for your entire site!  See Google flux and sandbox above!
3. Try to keep your product purchase or add to cart page within 3 clicks of your main page.  Now, shopping cart software has really evolved in this area, and I will update this long time rule of thumb to say…. Keep your buy or add to cart page within 3 clicks of its landing page.  So what I mean is, gadget 3 shares many attributes and information in common with gadgets 1, 2, and 4, so they will ideally have a sub-category page which has great content to promote all 4 gadgets in the group.  Very likely, since this content is specifically targeted for gadgets 1-4, searches will be presented the sub-category page and are not likely to draw your main page as its content for gadgets 1-4, as it is far broader.
4. Kill the next button! This is really simple stupid, but shoppers are not going to click through a broad category page after page using the “Next” button.  If you CANNOT get the product for a category or sub-category on one presentation page, then break them in to subcategories as shoppers just DO NOT click through page after page of broad category content searching for their widget!
5. As we mentioned before use good, logical navigation to your products. This is often a big boo-boo area for new shop owners as well, they tend to either over categorize or use category and navigation language that only they understand. Unless you plan to do the shopping for your customers use language that is common, easy to understand and logical in your navigation.  Best practice here is, if a 12 year old can understand the navigation then you’re good… If not, back to the drawing board.
6. Take care not to disrupt your menu style with excessively long category names that cause the line to drop down or hang off the edge of the menu.  Remember… Confused, lost and frustrated shoppers do not buy things often.

While your new store may be small now, you must leave yourself room to grow and add additional products in your navigation and category structure now… or pay with a headache later. Just like any other business, to get big you must think big! Couple of notes below from my buddy Tim Nash after his read of this post….

1. Never use a “under construction” or “coming soon” page on a live site.  Just don’t.
2. A newsletter or email list on your site can help you promote your site better and Google likes the fact that you are providing an opportunity for users to interact.

Before you launch your new online store I want you to click through your product pages and checkout process quite a few times and get a feel for your site’s flow.  Ideally, you will either employ or invite some others to do so as well.  This is called usability testing and can open your eyes to issues and problems in your store, you would have never identified otherwise.  When choosing testers, try to pick a few different statistical groups to really get a full understanding.  A woman, a man, a 12 year old, another business owner, your buddy who just learned how to turn on his PC and an older adult is a nice combination for a test group. Assign them a product to buy and develop a list of questions to ask them AFTER their visit, things like…

1. How did you locate the product?
2. Did the pages load fast enough?
3. Do you like the colors?
4. Was there enough product information?
5. Did you find the add to cart button quickly and easily?
6. Was the checkout fast and easy?
7. Did you receive your order confirmation and receipt emails?

These things and more will really help you drill down in to your site’s usability and more importantly its ability to convert shoppers to sales.

When you are getting close to your launch date you must start thinking about how you will promote your new store initially.  Many avenues can be very effective and will not only help your store gain popularity, but help Google to find and index it as well.

1. If you have an email list of previous customers, send them an invitation with a coupon and solicit their feedback.
2. Have a marketing company or you yourself do a nice “Grand Opening” type press release.
3. Have a blogging friend or related company blog about your store opening.
4. List your store with the local directories for Google, MSN and Yahoo.
5. List your store with free business directories.
6. Write an article about one of your products or services and submit it to article directories with a link back to your store.
7. Submit your products to Google Shopping and Live products, which are both free.
8. Submit a coupon to some free coupon portals.

Are you curious about where to find free product listing, coupon directories and local business listing opportunities? I will be sending our “start up” list of these promotional opportunities to all of our Zen Cart Tips & Tricks newsletter subscribers on Friday August 22cnd… So drop your email address in the newsletter box in the right column to get your free copy as well!

Good luck with your new store, and remember, any successful business requires hard work and dedication!

So you want to be a Shop Owner Part 4

Every business will have specific integration or custom function they need or want.  This is the stickiest part of developing your online store.  In Part 1 of this series, we had you look at the saleability of you products, in doing so you probably came across some quirks or specific needs you have to effectively sell your wares. Whether its special information passed in orders on checkout, a specific sales report needed to manage your inventory or accounting, a software integration or a different payment method… You will need to accomplish these things to be successful.  A plan is only as good as the execution.

I sincerely hope you identified the custom features and integration you need and measured your shopping cart software against it by this stage of development… Lets assume you have =-)

Most developers will get $50 to $150 and hours to make customizations and functionality changes to your website.  If you have chosen a shopping cart that has packaged or developed modifications which you can install to change the functionality, look and feel then this cost is likely to be lessened quite a bit.  If you have need for all out custom programming, and it will increase your ability to sell products or rank better in organic search… Then make the investment.

We discussed early on some features that historically we know you will need to sell your products effectively and decrease abandonment.  Let dig in to a few of these things that shop owners commonly require from their shopping carts to succeed.

1. You will absolutely need a good search function for shoppers to find your products quickly and easily and reduce shopper frustration. You search function needs to be very near the top of your website, top left is optimum.  A search function is NO replacement for great navigation.
2. You will need a category menu to assist shoppers in navigating your products in a logical manner. While I can appreciate the desire to “stand out” or “be different” this menu is best suited on the top or top left.  Right hand menus just aren’t as effective, as we have long trained visitors to look in “normal” places for the menu options.  Does your menu need moved?
3. Does your store have the ability to properly apply sales tax in your region/state and any distributors zone as well?  There is no headache like the IRS if you do not handle your sales tax collection properly.
4. Is your coupon and discount functionality suited for your products or do you need additional tools like quantity pricing or special prices for special shoppers?  This is likely to be a job for your shopping cart developer.
5. Does your store and checkout contain language that leads shoppers to believe they “have to” create an account to shop with you? Fix this now, trust me.  You see, even if the fact is they must create and account, the language does not have to scream the fact at them.  Use terminology like “shipping information” or “billing information” to reduce your shoppers anxiety about creating yet another web account.
6. How many pages or clicks does it take for a shopper to checkout with a product? This needs to be a few pages as possible, and you development money is well spent on optimizing your checkout.
7. Are your product pages laid out correctly? Is there a proper “call to action”? Can shopper easily locate the “add to cart” button?
8. Will you be able to integrate your payment processing yourself, or does your developer need to do this for you?  Do not settle for accepting JUST Google Checkout or PayPal, proper credit card processing will greatly increase your sales and rate of conversion.  Honestly, don be scared, its not that difficult to get a merchant account & gateway going for your shop.  In many cases you can additionally process all or certain credit cards types cheaper than PayPal or Google Checkout. You web developer should be able to advise you on your options for credit cards processing and the integration involved for your shopping cart software.
9. Is you shipping functionality going to do the job or does it need “tweaked”?  Remember, shoppers have been long burned on pumped up shipping charges on eBay and other similar shopping platforms, so you need to get this right to convert shoppers in to sales.
10. Are the systems in place for order and inventory management going to be effective enough for your business, or do you need added functionality here?
11. Do you have effective statistical software installed to tracks sales, conversions, visitors and other site metrics? You absolutely NEED a proper Analytics Solution for your web store… Not optional if you intend to be successful.  It doesn’t have to cost a great deal of money at all… Google Analytics is not only free, but highly effective statistical and conversion tracking software.

All in all, I hope your are feeling pretty confident at this point that your choices thus far have been well informed and good decisions.  I have one piece of additional advice to pass on at this point…

You will NOT be successful in your web store, JUST because you have one.  Your shopping cart, like any other business, requires a high level of commitment and maintenance from you.  You must have your finger on the “pulse” of your business at all times, no matter who is managing it.  Lastly, you must be prepared to make a proper reinvestment of funds to your website for technology improvements, maintenance, proper hosting and many other marketing opportunities as well.

Stop by Monday (8/18/2008) for the final part of “So You Want to be a Shop Owner” series wrap up called “Got My Store in Development, Now What?” See you there!

So you want to be a Shop Owner Part 3

Today we will cover some options you have for the development of your shopping cart and the hosting resources you will need to run your business properly.

With most e commerce platforms you can do the initial shopping cart configuration and set up yourself.  However, unless you are using a hosted e-commerce solution I would highly recommend you at least get a consult from an e-commerce developer who specializes in the software/platform you have chosen.  A developer who knows the online shopping business and the software you are using can make your store successful with their experience and knowledge.  Its okay to do this “in house” so to speak, but there will be a great deal of research and learning involved to do an adequate job.

Not all shopping cart software is created equal… Remember back in Part 2 of this series we covered the different types of platforms.  Hopefully now, since you have decided on a shopping cart platform you have made certain your choice of software “can” do everything you need. This is where that e commerce developer comes in… They have a much greater understanding of the software’s capabilities and e-commerce trends.

Here are some questions you might ask a shopping cart developer BEFORE you choose them.

• What are your greatest strengths as an ecommerce shop developer?
• What other shopping cart platforms do you develop?
• Do you have some examples of stores you have developed for me to view?
• Do you have a few business references I can contact?
• How long have you been in business and have you always specialized in e-commerce?
• Do I “HAVE TO” host my website with you?
• What don’t you do in the development process (what will we “have to” do ourselves”)?
• Do you provide ongoing support and what is the cost?

Working with an e-commerce expert will help you avoid some of the pitfalls and ensure that your new store has everything it needs to succeed.  Many times in business we absorb a cost up front and expect the investment returned to us in sales/success. Retaining a ecommerce development firm is a better choice if you will require extensive integration or customization.

Web stores, like any other website rely heavily on their ability to rank organically in the search engines.  You can make mistakes with your website, which not only hinder organic results, but can be very costly down the line to repair your organic standing.  I would suggest you do a deep read in to the “help” section or forum of your shopping cart software and look for things like content duplication, url structure, load speed, title tags and other website anomalies related to your specific ecommerce software.

If you have qualified technical person on staff with relative experience in ecommerce development, you can save some money by doing some or all of the shop development in house. Most hosted solutions are pretty easy to set up, but configuring things like payment gateways, shipping, product choices and ensuring you web store has the necessary and appropriate security measures and protections can be very difficult for an in house tech to complete properly.  Most times, these types of issues are best solved by a consultant, as they tend to stay current with the evolution and technical progression of the commerce software they develop.

What about e-commerce hosting?

Many shopping cart software platforms have advanced needs for the hosting environment.  When you are investigating your software choices, check out the hosting requirements and any suggestions the shopping cart developer has.  It just makes no sense to choose a robust shopping cart and then not be able to use it to its full potential because of your hosting.

If you are having trouble deciding what hosting is required or appropriate then consider asking the hosting company some questions…

• Does your hosting support our e-commerce software?
• Do you have 24/7 support? Helpdesk? Email? Phone?
• Can you install an SSL on this account?  Does it have a dedicated IP?
• What is your downtime guarantee and how is it tracked?
• What do control panel/account upgrades cost (if any)? Are they automatic or will you have to move my site in the future to upgrade me?
• What kind of security measures are taken at the server & network level?
• Do I have to sign on for a whole year?
• Can you give me the address of a couple of sites hosted on the same server as I will be so I can check the speed and performance?

Most hosting companies realize this is a very important decision and will be patient and answer your questions… If they seem bothered by your questions, less than knowledgeable or cannot answer them, MOVE ON.  Now is the time, there is much cost, headache and loss of business which you will suffer later for a bad choice of hosting now.

What about hosted choices?

Hosted e-commerce platforms are perhaps simpler, but have pitfalls of their own.  Check out a few stores hosted with them… Not just the demo.  Many times hosted applications lack the server side controls you will need to properly optimize your website and checkout process.  So you will want to ask the e-commerce provider some tough questions as well…

• Do I have control panel and root access?
• Are you going to advertise your service on my site?
• What guarantees of hosting uptime and website availability do you provide?
• Do you have 24/7 support? Helpdesk? Email? Phone?
• How often is my site backed up and can I initialize a backup myself?
• Do you have a data storage and disaster recovery protocol set up?
• Do I own my sites and can move anytime I like… Or is it proprietary and I cannot host it anywhere else?
• Can I change and optimize my checkout procedure?
• Can I have/use domain based email addresses?

Again, and I cannot stress this enough… This is a big piece of the ecommerce puzzle and it is crucial you ask questions and make good informed decisions at this step… Or pay dearly for it later.

NEXT…Part 4 Shop Necessities, Integration and Functionality - Due 8/15/2008

Part 5 Got My Store in Development, Now What? - Due 8/18/2008

So you want to be a Shop Owner Part 2

There are basically 3 options for choosing the software or platform to run your online store…

1. Hosted E-commerce Solutions - These are shopping carts such as Yahoo Stores, eBay Stores and Nexternal.  These platforms have at least the catalog end of your business hosted on their own servers.
2. Self Hosted Static Carts - This is a cart you host and build using a static catalog and for example the PayPal shopping cart system. You maintain this store.
3. Self Hosted Shopping Cart Software - These platforms may be open source or purchased software, but you host and maintain the site yourself.

Each platform has some pros and cons to consider.  So lets dig in to how these solutions will work for you…

The truth of the shopping cart decision is that MOST businesses need more from their online store.  Things like enhanced shopping cart functionality and cross selling, order processing and shipping tracking systems and even multiple product options are generally required.

Being able to process credit cards as well as PayPal type payment options will significantly increase your ability to convert shoppers to sales.  You will most likely require the ability to streamline and improve your checkout process to suit your needs.  Keep it short and sweet!

The ability to cross sell or suggestive sell related products is a huge advantage for any shop.  Making a sale for one item is really not a big accomplishment… But building that same shoppers order up with the additional products he/she needs or are related in nature will provide better sales and more returning shoppers.

Very likely your products are shipped… Shoppers have become very wary of the shipping scams on eBay and such.  You will want to provide a very transparent and upfront shipping estimation and rate feature to be successful.

Are your products digital or down loadable… Few shopping cart platforms handle virtual products well and this requires a great deal of investigation on your part.  Can you easily upload, allow multiple downloads, track downloads, set a time limit, require payment verification, launch automatic download links…. Yep, this one is a challenge for MOST shopping carts.

What about navigation?  I can tell you with 100% confidence that there is NOTHING more important to your store.  You will need the ability to create, add and edit your categories and internal navigation as often as you like.  Tweaking your site flow and navigation are a never ending task.  You will need an accurate and prominent search function… But NOT in place of great navigation, in addition to.

Many shops need greater functionality in the accounting and administrative ends.  The ability to properly charge sales tax only when applicable is a highly important and commonly missing feature.  You might need tighter inventory controls and sales/cost reports… Do your homework here so your don’t get burned.

What about sales, discounts and coupons… Even if you believe you will not need these effective marketing tools right now, I would have to suggest at some point you will want to turn to them and be very happy you have the ability.

Ask a ton of questions of any software solution you are considering… and if they do not have the answers, move on!

Next… Part 3 Development Options and Choosing Proper Web Hosting - Due 8/13/2008

Part 4 Shop Necessities, Integration and Functionality - Due 8/15/2008

Part 5 Got My Store in Development, Now What? - Due 8/18/2008

So you want to be a Shop Owner Part 1

The first logical decision needed is a solid determination of your company’s need, ability and budget to build a web store.  There are many factors to consider…

1. Are your products really salable in a shopping cart environment?
2. Can you provide the stock and manpower necessary to fill orders from the web?
3. Does your business answer the phones for extended hours?
4. Can you afford the development and maintenance cost involved to develop and build a great online store?
5. Can you and your co-workers manage the high dedication and demand of a great shopping website?

Does your company have products that can be properly ordered online or are they far to complicated, perishable or fragile to make it a good shopping venue?  There are in fact many products, regardless of their great profitability are just NOT suited for a shopping cart format.  Sometimes a nice informative static site with great content and a strong funneling or flow control to generate email or phone leads is just the ticket!

E commerce  is short for electronic commerce, and it seems like everyone has or wants an online store. Online stores are popping up for all different products types of industries… Its really amazing what you can buy online these days!  Many consumer based products are a  good line to sell on an e-commerce shop: all types of clothes, household gadgets and decor, all kinds of supplies, lighting and electrical, pet supplies, consumer electronics, and even cookies. However, as I eluded to earlier… Not all products are at all suited for the web shopper.  Very high dollar purchases that buyers will want to test drive and overly complicated items with many  of options and information requirements just do not have the potential to convert shoppers in to sales.

#2 Can your business fill the web orders in the event you are successful… Or will shoppers just complain about your service and delivery.  You see, even if the store obtains only minimal sales you and your staff have got to plan to deliver the expected level of service for your company… Even on the web.

I have seen very highly organized companies hit the web and fall on their proverbial asses.  You must develop the proper integration and procedures to connect you cart to your existing business.  This is not an area to work around, the integration needs to be seamless.

Absolutely plan to extend your phone hours.  Just because your store is on the web does not mean shoppers don’t have questions and problems.  That lie perpetrated by many e-commerce schemes “Make money in your home just 2 hours a week and gross 100k”.  If that’s what you think… Then play the lottery your odds are better.  The simple fact is this… Shoppers have become VERY aware of the abundance of online shopping stores and are EXTREMELY wary of shops who do not display hours, contact information…. and a TOLL FREE PHONE NUMBER.  You cannot hide from your customers and make any money.

The general cost of developing just a very basic shopping cart with NO other site pages is going to run you about $700 plus and you will still have monthly costs in maintenance, process, hosting and blah blah blah.  These additional costs depend very significantly on your level of dedication.  Lets face it, anything you can do properly yourself… Is basically FREE!

Next…Part 2 Choosing the Proper Shopping Cart Software - Due 8/11/2008

Part 3 Development Options and Choosing Proper Web Hosting - Due 8/13/2008

Part 4 Shop Necessities, Integration and Functionality - Due 8/15/2008

Part 5 Got My Store in Development, Now What? - Due 8/18/2008

See you there~