Ecommerce Shopping Cart Blog by InstanteStore » web store

Web Store Budgeting Tips For Newbies

desmond — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:55:42 +0000

Out of 10 people who dream of starting their own online store, only ONE actually makes that dream a reality. Many sign up for free trials but most lack the confidence to sign up for a paid shopping cart service. But those who do actually sign up surprisingly progress really quickly in terms of store set up and marketing.

It’s obvious that these folks did quite a bit of homework before signing up. This does work, and we encourage everyone with the intention of starting up a home business work at home setup to do the same.

To help you get started, we will be looking at budgets – a brief look at how much should be put aside to run a web store for a year. Just to digress a little, beware of sites promoting absolutely free home based business opportunities. Many of these claims are just bait for clever scams. As far as we know it takes a bit of effort and some money to get a home business work at home setup going. Money-wise, all you need is a small business start up financing plan to get a clearer picture of what you might be getting into.

A few basic factors need to be considered when budgeting for a web store:

Domain Name

Naturally, you’ll need a domain name for your a web store. You can register brand new names or get one that has expired. But before you do that, weigh the pros and cons first. A pre-used name could already have links to it but it could also come with some unwanted baggage like blacklistings. Domain names aren’t really costly so try to get one that’s new. The average cost of a new domain name is around $10 each per year.

Payment Gateway

Most merchants use the services of a payment gateways to handle payment transactions. Basically a payment gateway allows you to accept payments online. These gateways are reliable and offer a host of features like fraud prevention and recurring billing. Popular gateway 2Checkout (2CO) charges a 5.5% commission on each transaction, plus a $0.45 charge per transaction. They also charge $49 as a one-time set-up fee.

SSL Certificate

The SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol was created to ensure secure transactions between web servers and browsers. The SSL certificate is an electronic document which contains certain unique information such as e-mail address, owner’s name, certificate usage, duration of validity, Distinguished Name (DN) and certificate ID that ensures web site owners are who they claim to be. You can get a standard SSL certificate for as low as $30 per year.

Drop Shipping Services

Reliable drop shippers or drop shipping suppliers are great for new merchants who are short on manpower and storage space. The process is simple. A customer makes a purchase at a store, and the order and shipment details are then forwarded to the manufacturer or wholesaler who then ships the product(s) to the customer. This process actually reduces cost in the supply chain. Expect to pay around $60 monthly for drop shipper supplier services.

Shopping Cart Software

This is the software that makes everything happen for a webstore. Top shopping cart software solutions like InstanteStore are filled to the brim with features and are easy to use. InstanteStore provides a shopping cart software solution for as low as $49.97 a month without any set up fee and you can save even more if you opt for longer term subscription packages. On average though, be prepared to fork out $150 a month along with a $99 set up fee for most shopping carts.

Logo And Site Design

Ecommerce sites usually provide free templates if you sign up with them but most merchants prefer to customize their stores to make them stand out among the crowd. Design firms like Logo-Design-Studio provide customized web store designs from $397. On the average, you would need to put away about $500 to get your store a suitable custom-tailored website design.

In conclusion, you would need to set aside approximately $3200 for your web store for the first year. Of course, this is a very high estimate. You could save quite a bit by using the shopping cart solution from InstanteStore and save another $700 or so if you do not use the services of a drop shipping supplier. You can also save a few more dollars if you purchase your domain name together with an SSL certificate. With a careful eye to budget, you could potentially bring your actual cost of doing online business for a year to around $1200 or less.Recent Posts:

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Tips For Creating Effective eNewsletters

desmond — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:49:19 +0000

People spend as much as 6 hours a day on the Internet, according to ecommerce statistics. Rain or shine, as long as the connection isn’t on the blink, chances are quite a few of the 1.6 billion people with internet access will be online.

If you have subscribed to an ecommerce shopping cart software service and are running a web store, you’ve probably spent quite a bit of time marketing your store. A typical ecommerce shopping cart provider usually includes lots of features to help you market your products. One such feature is eNewsletter Broadcasting.

Find out more about creating effective eNewsletters…

eNewsletters are great because they are (usually) free, yet have the potential to increase sales from existing customers by as much as 30%. Although some clients praise this feature, others say it is a waste of time. When this happens it is always good to compare the eNewsletters that work with the ones that don’t.

Here are a few tips to put you on the right track:

Lowest Price Automatically Equates To Higher Sales

That assumption is a fallacy. Just because your product is cheap does not necessarily mean people will buy it. Just having the lowest price doesn’t get you very far these days. Many merchants use the “Low Price” caption as their main and only feature or USP (Unique Selling Point) in their eNewsletters without realizing that low prices are just bait. You must present other features and explain their benefits in order to convert eNewsletter readers into buyers. You can bet your competitors are doing the same.

Unique Selling Points

No product can remain truly unique indefinitely. It’s just a matter of time before a competitor’s product emerges which can better your product on all fronts. This is why you should always promote your product in a way that ties into other features as well. Leverage your strengths and make sure you feature them next to the products you are promoting in your eNewsletter. Don’t be too vague. “Money back guarantee” sounds good initially but it won’t make the grade. Sometimes you have to spell things out in order to dispel any concerns. “Money back guarantee – No hidden fees, No contracts, No cancellation penalties” – might work better as you’ve backed up your bold statement with an assurance. Always put yourself in the shoes of your customers and try to figure out what would prevent them from buying a particular product. Address those concerns and voila! — a sale.

The Little Things

Don’t waste too much time coming up with clever tag lines for your eNewsletter. If people want to read something funny, they’ll do a search for jokes. People have a tendency to look at product images first before they read anything else on an eNewsletter so make sure those images are attractive. Use all the tips mentioned earlier – explain features and benefits, address concerns immediately – to try to close the sale as early as possible.

Try to avoid featuring too many products in your eNewsletter. Remember, it’s not a catalog. Feature one main product – a new product, for example – and offer it at an introductory price. As a bonus, customers can use a discount count code included in the issue to get a further discount on top of the introductory price. You can display smaller photos (thumbnails) of “on sale” items below the featured product’s prime area. However once again, do not display too many.

Once you’ve got your eNewsletter ready, you can make full use of your ecommerce shopping cart provider Newsletter Broadcasting feature to market your products and hopefully, pull in some sales.

What are your experiences with eNewletters? We’d love to hear them.Recent Posts:

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Want More Word Of Mouth Referrals To Your Online Store?

desmond — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:59:22 +0000

It is easy to build a rapport with customers or visitors at a conventional store. A store manager can cordially go around chatting with customers while subtly finding out information like how a customer thinks the store can be improved, gather feedback on store campaigns and other suggestions. Engaging customers in this manner gives a store a warmer, more welcoming feel and does wonders for customer retention as well as word-of-mouth marketing.

As you can imagine, the playing field is totally different at a web store. How do you engage your online visitors to increase your customer retention online?

The answer may be simpler than you thought…

There are ways to engage customers and visitors in interactive activity. One fine way is by drawing up an online survey. An online survey is a simple yet useful tool that can be used to both garner information as well solicit an action from a visitor. Getting a visitor involved is another way to make a page ’sticky’ so make sure the survey is located near the ‘hot’ first fold area of the landing page.

As easy as it may seem, there are a few steps you might want to consider to writing an effective survey.

Understanding The Reason For The Survey

Before you get started, make sure you are focused on what information you are seeking. Once this is clear, you can then begin to formulate questions.

Duration

InstanteStore allows merchants to add single question surveys to stores. Merchants can choose to assign a duration to specific surveys. Since different customers visit the store at different days of the week, leaving a survey up for a week before changing it would be a good idea.

Style

Try not to be too formal with the questions. Having said that, you should also avoid sounding colloquial. Questions should be short and to the point. They should be simple and easy to understand.

Answers

Just as important as crafting the questions is listing the answers. Answers should not be too many but also, should be broad enough to accommodate a few key demographics. You should also include multiple answer options (i.e. 1-50), opt outs and neutral responses. Scaled responses should have answers that are balanced with comparable intervals (excellent, good, fair, average, poor, very poor).Recent Posts:

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Generate More Product Sales Through e-Newsletters

desmond — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:05:32 +0000

“49% of email marketers said their newsletter routinely justified themselves.”

- MarketingSherpa, Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008

After SEO, the next most effective conversion tactic for smaller marketers is e-mail and newsletters.

The InstanteStore newsletter broadcast feature is not only a great customer retention tool but more importantly, it has the potential to boost sales by up to 35% if done correctly. There are so many good things going for this feature. Best of all, it’s FREE. All it takes is a little work and you have a proven sales-getter.

So, how do you get this working?…

When a visitor subscribes to an e-newsletter from a web store, it means the visitor is just one step away from making a purchase. The interest is already there; all it takes is a little push to close the sale. That’s very good news to a merchant.

Content

e-Newletters are great for introducing new products, special on-sale items, store updates and new features. But in order to convert an interested reader into a paying customer, you have to give the visitor a reason to buy.

Here’s an example. When a woman looks at a dress, she doesn’t just think of the dress per se. She thinks about all the things she has or could buy that would match the dress she is eying. A merchant can help the decision making process along by including fashion tips along with the product promotion in the newsletter. Let the reader know what kind of occasion, shoes, accessories, make up and hairstyle would best suit the dress. Citing latest fashion trends has also been known to have a positive effect.

Just make sure the content is relevant. Do not include material that, although interesting, would not likely lead to a sale.

Frequency

“45% of small business execs want to receive the (email) newsletter weekly, 34% said monthly.”

- Bredin Business Information (2007)

Everything contained in an e-newsletter should be geared towards making a sale. But in order to pull that off, the content must be relevant, interesting and “new”. Once weekly or once every two weeks would be best. This would ensure subscribers are not overwhelmed by too many newsletters and merchants are not in a rush to produce effective content.

Bonus Tip

There is also a trick on how to market products in newsletters depending on which part of the month it is. In countries where paychecks are only issued at the end of the month, email marketers use two different marketing strategies in their newsletters.

Firstly, all the “new” or “hot” items are in the issue that’s broadcast right before payday so potential customers can plan their budgets after seeing what they want. Secondly, the issue at the middle of the month contains “best buy”, “on sale” or limited period discount coupons, targeted at bargain hunters or those who have a bit of spare change left.Recent Posts:

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Elevate Your Web Store Profits – Select The “Right” Ecommerce Template

desmond — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:30:40 +0000

If you carry out a Net search for designer spectacles, how much time do you figure you might spend searching? Just like many other internet shoppers, we would likely be prepared to browse a few web pages but may only be inclined to spend a few seconds on each page.

The truth is, a landing page has only 10 to 15 seconds to draw a visitor’s attention before the store visitor is lost forever. Love it or hate it, this is the frenetic pace most of us live with these days. Hence, it is important to design your landing page to be as “sticky” as possible.

The most basic tool a site should have is the right ecommerce template. There are practically thousands of ecommerce templates out there and some are even provided free as part of a shopping cart software package. But ecommerce templates alone may not be sufficient — they need to work in synergy with other contributing components.

In an effort to help you obtain the best out of your ecommerce template, here are 3 very useful smart tips. Click to read on…

- Well-written content can play a very important role in making a page “sticky” but only if it is formatted appropriately. Lumping everything into a single paragraph might give the impression that the information might be too cumbersome to read no matter how informative it may be. Do not be reluctant to break your content up into a few paragraphs of uneven lengths or insert an image in between to make it more easy on the eyes.

- As you might probably have noticed, category list links are located on the left hand side of a page. Some lists can be rather lengthy and can be a turnoff at first glance. You can prevent this issue by simply grouping the lists into 6 links per batch.

- Try positioning similar items together. Some items on the web page could possibly complement each other. For example, the next course of action after mulling over the price statement is potentially to engage the Buy or Add To Cart button, so it’s a good idea to arrange them close together and make the move a progressive one for the visitor.

Here is an additional heads-up for you: Action buttons like the “Add To Cart” button should always be more prominent than the rest of the landing page because ultimately that is the action you would want them to perform, so their eyes should be instantly attracted to that button. In order to accomplish this, use bright colors or a hue in striking contrast to the color palette of your landing page.Recent Posts:

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Appropriate Ecommerce Templates Can Boost Your Web Store’s Earnings?

desmond — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:12:38 +0000

Has it ever occurred to you why your web store’s bounce rate is so high despite having the best offers online?

The problem could possibly lie in your ecommerce template. Many web store owners do not place enough emphasis on ecommerce templates. They do not recognize that ecommerce templates play a key part in getting a visitor to make a purchase. In all truth there is a science to this. The combination of colors, fonts and placement of elements plays a part in transforming a mere visitor into an individual who would spend money on your products. Obviously, that is exactly what each and every web store owner wants.

First impressions are crucial to drawing a visitor’s curiosity. A site has maybe only 10 seconds to achieve this. Every component on the page has to work perfectly in tandem to make this happen. Every feature on the page has a purpose. Nothing should be there simply for aesthetic purposes alone. If a component isn’t playing a part in helping you close a sale then it should be regarded as a waste of both your time and your customers’.

So how exactly does a store owner pull off such a feat?

Products, Templates And The Market
A lot of ecommerce solution sites afford free ecommerce templates. However, if you can spare a bit of cash, you could purchase your very own expertly-designed site that should suit your purposes to a T.

Nevertheless, if you do choose to utilize a free template, do make sure it benefits your theme or market. For instance, if your store sells flowers, you probably don’t want to choose an ecommerce template with a dark hue. You should go with something more colorful and bright to create an ambiance with a flowery feel to it.

Prime Location
If you want to make an impact, there’s a spot on the first page that should fit the task. This is the section of the page that is generally known as the first fold or top fold area. This is the area where visitors do not need to scroll down to view. It is the very first view they have of your site when they land there. This is where most sites use graphic images to get the attention of visitors. But captivating pictures are just part of the whole scheme; that’s just the carrot on a stick. Bear in mind, visitors will only spend a few seconds at best to explore the area near the center of attraction so be sure that key elements such as text, ads and buy buttons are found nearby.Recent Posts:

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Add 100 Products To Your Web Store In Under 15 Minutes

desmond — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:23:05 +0000

The title may seem a bit far-fetched but it’s not. Conventionally, it may seem impossible to pull this off in such a short span of time because adding products to a web store also means a bit of work – writing product descriptions, setting prices, assigning product codes and uploading images. Usually, this would take hours to complete but this was before the InstanteStore-Doba integration.

Continue reading to find out more…

The InstanteStore-Doba integration product adding feature is highly user friendly. Web store owners can not only select products en bloc, but also group them by size, color or any other variation and assign them to a category via the Import Products facility under the Doba heading.

All products already come fully loaded with product codes, related images and product description. The description can still be edited if necessary. Merchants can then set standard mark-ups and discount criteria for all products at once via the Doba Settings feature.

Not surprisingly, this is one of the more popular features to be included in the InstanteStore-Doba integration.Recent Posts:

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