Strategy Plus' top ten tips for making an ecommerce website work.

By Keith Ricardo, Strategy Plus

You may have noticed ever increasing news articles claiming bigger and better facts regarding the UK Internet such as: online sales hit three-year high; the Internet is worth £100bn a year to the UK economy; every community in the UK will gain access to super-fast broadband by 2015.  This is because its all true and more and more people are not just using the Internet but are willing to buy everything from diamond rings to packaging for their moves.

People will choose to purchase if it saves them money or time and customers now know that the Internet will do both.

Many removal companies have already seen this trend growing and now offer packaging products for sale via their website. For very little cost they have seen the benefits such as saving time for them and the customer, adding value to their existing removals service and of course attracting new customers via their online shop.

In addition to packaging the payment gateway can be used to accept deposits for removals or other services. It can also be used between removals and storage companies to complete payments from one to another.

Here are our top ten tips for making an ecommerce website work:

1. Data capture & database building

Always capture data whether it’s when somebody buys something or even visits your site by offering them something for free e.g. removal tips in exchange for their email address. This way you can build an email database which you can use to keep in touch with your potential customers.

2. Make your customers aware

Because removals sites will normally be advertising the removals service on the homepage you need to make the customer aware that the online shop is there by adding credit card and shopping cart symbols as well as an obvious online shop tab.

3. Understand your user behaviour

You can integrate free analytics software from Google (www.google.com/analytics) that will tell you where your visitors are coming from, what they were searching for and where they went on your site. From this you can amend search engine optimisation elements and product placement to suite your visitors’ needs.

4. Research keywords

Again using a free tool from Google you can find out how many times a certain search term, e.g. ‘removals boxes’ was searched last month in Google. https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal

This, added to our SEO service (Search Engine Optimisation) using meta tags, targeted replica domains and other techniques, will assist in getting you to the front page of Google from which your future customers will come.

5. Our Partner

The Payment Gateway that we install on your website would be organised with our partners, Sage Pay, the providers of accountancy services nationally to SMEs. Prior to this we can also organise your Merchant Account Number which will be unique to you as an online ordering/selling resource.

6. Special offers at the front

If you can imagine your online shop is actually a real shop you would promote your best products or offers in the shop window, but in the case of the website it will be your homepage or online shop front page.

7. Easy navigation

Bread crumb tabs and get anywhere in 1-2 clicks

8. Helpful guidelines and tips

If you offer helpful guidelines and tips for either your products or your service then people will be more likely to trust you and share your site with others.

9. Packaging products

We can help you put together the database of packaging products

10. Link to social media

Social Media is another topic but most will know that Facebook and Twitter are powerful tools and should be incorporated with your online shop. This means giving users the options to follow you on Twitter, add you as a friend on Facebook and share all their good experiences with your website online with their friends/followers.

For more information on how to make the most of the Internet you can contact Daniel Ricardo at Strategy Plus: dricardo@strategy-plus.net,  07791 308922.