When embarking on the launch of an e-commerce site many people do not realise that the difference between a successful site and an unsuccessful one can be the e-commerce platform you use. Some e-commerce platforms do not allow for the flexibility required to completely optimise your site and get it ranking well in the search engines.

Many a time, website owners find they are getting the traffic to their site but that it is not converting to sales. What is the cause behind this and how can it be rectified?

Choosing the right e-commerce platform

These days there are too many different content management systems (CMS’s) and e-commerce platforms, one can become confused with which one to choose. A lot of people end up choosing free or open source platforms as they do not want to invest in more expensive systems. When it comes to an e-commerce site, you need to do it right the first time. This means investing time and money into getting the structure and design right. Make sure you do some user experience testing to find out how people are interacting with your site before you launch it – do they find it easy to find the products they are looking for and is making a purchase simple?

From an SEO perspective, there are certain elements that need to be in place for your e-commerce site to not only rank well but also convert well.

1.    Clean URLs for product pages

Many e-commerce sites do not give you the type of control you need in order to optimise your URL structure. Ideally you want to ensure that your URL contains the name of your product. A good example of a CMS system that handles URL structure well is Joomla. Thanks to the SH404SEF module you can set your URLs to pull just the name of your product or you can manually rewrite the URL to be exactly the way you want it.

2.    Ability to Add Unique Meta Data on all pages

In order for your product pages to get indexed well you need to ensure that all your products have unique titles, descriptions and keyword tags. Some custom CMS solutions make use of a universal meta tag meaning that you need to ensure your developer has built in functionality for you to customise the meta data on all pages of your e-commerce site.

3.    XML and Static Sitemap

A common problem that many e-commerce site owners find is that their sites do not get indexed well. The site may contain 5000 pages but only 2000 of them are appearing in the Google index. In order to help Google index your site well you need to ensure that your site has an up to date XML and static sitemap. These days there are some great pieces of software which automate XML sitemaps. With e-commerce sites, products are being added and removed on a regular basis, hence you want to ensure that you always have an up to date sitemap. That, along with unique meta data, will really help your site get indexed better.

4.    Good Search Function

You want to make it as easy as possible for people to find what they are looking for on your site. An e-commerce site with a bad search function is bound to have a lower conversion rate. Make sure you test out your search function to ensure it is giving out accurate results before you launch your website.

5.    Site Speed

Some of the best e-commerce sites are successful due to the fact that it is quick and easy to make purchases. The point of online shopping was to make shopping a faster experience. Hence, if your e-commerce site is slow to load, you are not likely to get repeat customers. Make sure you test your site speed before you launch it. Externalise any JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and compress all images you have on the site. It is little things like this that can help make your site faster and more user friendly.

So there you have it, a few tips on what to look out for when building an e-commerce site. Remember that if you get the structure and design right the first time, it will save you a lot of money in the long run.

If you are thinking of starting an e-commerce site, we recommend you contact R.O.I Media for a full website design, conversion and SEO services.

A good business plan for an eBusiness should include the following:

A Technology Audit

Wikipedia explains this as the evaluation of the system’s efficacy and security protocols.

The following questions need to be asked:

* Will the organization’s computer systems be available for the business at all times when required? (Availability)
* Will the information in the systems be disclosed only to authorized users? (Confidentiality)
* Will the information provided by the system always be accurate, reliable, and timely? (Integrity)

(source: Wikipedia.com)

Thorough Research into the Competition

The accessibility of the Internet means that you have the potential to reach a large target audience, but it also means your competition could be massive. To make sure you have something different to offer, a unique selling point or product, or something that makes you stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to see who else is peddling similar wares and work out strategies to find your niche.

A Budget

All businesses need to work to a budget. The difference here is that there are costs involved in starting up an eBusiness that are unique to the online environment. You’ll need to consider factors such as

* Domain registration fees
* Web hosting fees
* Website Development Costs
* Marketing – SEO and PPC
* ISP fees
* Additional phone lines

Remember you’ll need to work on Start Up, Monthly and Annual costs and well as Fixed and Controllable expenses.

If you don’t know what you’re doing you could end up in a financial mess that spells disaster to your venture, so it pays to call in the experts if you’re ‘green’.

Create a Website Check List

Once you have a team working on the site, you’ll need to allocate jobs to the right people and in order to do this you need to be aware of all the big and small steps needed to create a successful online business.

Factors to take into account include:

* Technical details such as domain name registration.
* Content compilation – review, rewrite, re-package.
* Graphics – including overall design, and digitizing of logo.
* Site creation and testing – try different browsers, test navigation etc.
* Preparing Title, Description and meta tags.
* Registering with major, regional and niche directories and search engines.
* Link campaigning, including online press releases and articles.

This list is by no means exhaustive but gives you an idea of how complex the ‘simple process of online business development and marketing’ actually is.

This article is not a ‘how-to’ for creating your eCommerce business plan, but a look at just a few of the factors that need to be taken into account before launching an online business. If you’re feeling a little out of your depth, don’t be discouraged – your online venture can become a thriving and successful business with careful planning and the help of the experts.

It’s always worth working with an expert when you first start up a business – no matter how great your ideas and how creative you are, without a primary knowledge of business your venture may flounder – and ultimately sink.

The purpose of this article is to explain the background on achieving a successful online business.

Calculating Success

There is very little difference between calculating the success of a walk-in store and of an online business. You have to look at the three key areas:
· Profits
· Cash Flow
· Return on Investment (R.O.I)
Online, R.O.I is achieved when a company is making enough money through sales to cover both
· Initial start-up costs and
· Monthly running costs
Once this level is reached each new sale is then considered a profit.

Performance

R.O.I is key when it comes to measuring your online performance. There are 3 basic measurements used to determine how well you are performing:
· Cost per Acquisition (CPA).
· Conversion Rate
· Traffic

Greek to you? Relax and we’ll unpack them one by one. CPA is the total cost of setting up your site, divided by the number of conversions or sales you make. Imagine you buy a pair of jeans for R1000 and wear them 50 times in a year. That means you’ve paid R20 per wear. Compared to a R10 000 wedding gown, worn once – you paid the full R10 000 for that wear. Looking at e-commerce, if an online store has spent R500 000 on its website and has only generated 10 sales then the cost per acquisition is R50 000. It’s simple – the more sales you generate the lower your CPA will become and the better your R.O.I will be.

Conversion Rate

This is all about how many visitors enter your site and stick around to actually buy something. The Conversion Rate is this figure worked out in percentages. So, if you have 1000 visitors to your site everyday and make on average 10 sales each day then your conversion rate is 1%. The higher your conversion rate becomes the better your performance will be.

Traffic

If nobody finds your website, there will be no conversion to sales, and therefore your CPA will be too high for the business to sustain itself. Generating high volumes of targeted traffic to your site, at a reasonable cost, is essential towards ensuring your online success.

KISS (Keep it Simple S!@#$)

Start off small and build up – that’s the way to keep afloat in those crucial first months. It’s easy to get carried away in the excitement of launching your brilliant new online venture, spending unnecessary amounts of money in order to arrive on the scene with a bang. Experts advise that you keep your initial investment low and think long-term by building up your traffic and conversion slowly to a avoid becoming another statistic along the lines of the dot-bomb fiasco of 2000. In South Africa, we are at risk of a local dot.bomb scenario because the e-commerce service industry is still immature in nature. Basic R.O.I principles are being ignored and the e-commerce failure rates in this country are disturbingly high. By sticking to the simple R.O.I principles you can avoid a similar fate. So if it’s so easy, why use the professionals? This article’s purpose is to explain the foundation stones on building a successful online business. Just because you know the definitions of bricks, cement and roof tiles it doesn’t mean you can build a mansion.

The process of putting together all the individual pieces is a highly complex procedure that requires an experienced team of website development and online marketing personnel to be managed in a R.O.I-guided manner. It is however useful to have some understanding of the tools and methods used to achieve online success as ultimately this is your dream and knowledge is empowering.

So next time we’ll look at the implementation and operation of a successful online business.