Selling products or services online, usually referred to as e-commerce, has become the way to go for many small businesses. It can turn a small local enterprise into a global, world leading brand although this obviously takes a lot of time and effort but it also reduces overheads, minimises workload, and offers you greater potential to access new and potentially profitable sources of customers. So, what’s needed to sell your products or services online?

A Plan

The planning stage of e-commerce is the most important. You first need to outline your goal by setting up online. Will the Internet be your sole source of sales? Will you be using the web to promote your physical stores or shops? You need to be able to answer these questions before you even consider contacting a developer, although a good developer will certainly be able to help you work through many of the steps and answer a lot of your questions.

The Website

Whether you’re intending to manage a simple brochure page that gives details of how to find your physical store or you will be managing hundreds of different products in your own e-commerce store you’re going to need a website. There are tools to help you build your own but if you don’t have any experience in design, development, and to a degree, marketing, then it is best left to the professionals. A poorly designed site can instantly turn visitors away and, worse still, send them to your direct competitors as a result.

Shopping Cart

If you intend to sell products directly on your website then you will need some form of shopping cart software. This software enables you to add and display products, categorise them, and add price and postage details. More advanced options can include cross product promotion, gallery pictures, and even detailed sales and traffic reports. There are many shopping cart options available to you and your best option is to discuss your needs and wants with your developer, because they will be responsible for installing the software.

Payment Processor

To sell items online you need to be able to accept payments online. Service providers may be able to get away with requesting bank transfers or BACS payments to a large degree but offering the option of credit and debit card payments will almost certainly enable you to reap greater rewards. Services like PayPal, Moneybookers, and NoChex can be integrated into your website without the need for a merchant account.

Traffic

The best designed site with the most intuitive interface, the most competitive prices, and the most appealing products will still not yield results until you generate traffic for your website. The Internet is literally awash with methods to promote a site and help you sell your products or services.

Affiliate marketing is a internet based practice where business rewards its affiliates who bring in new custom, through sales or unique visits, through website, e-mail or social network referrals.

So who are the affiliates?

They can be anyone you want them to be! There are different ways of getting affiliates for your site. You can offer a signup service on your website. If you do this, your website will need the ability to track referrals. This is normally done using cookies.

Another way of gaining affiliates is via a third-party service, called an ‘affiliate network’. These networks have the added bonus that they already have a large customer base that they can market your affiliate service too and they do all the sales and referral tracking for you. The only negative is cost. If you have a small budget, the DIY approach may be your best starting point.

The affiliate process

Its a pretty straight forward process…

1. An ‘affiliate’ will sign up on your site, or through an affiliate network.
2. The affiliate will then link through to your website. This could be a direct link to a product, or a link through to your main shop.
3. When a customer visits your site via your affiliate, the visit is logged.
4. If the customer goes on to make a purchase, this is also logged. This may not be an immediate purchase, it could be a purchase of up to 30 days after the visit was referred. The period something you can define yourself.
5. Commission is then paid to the affiliate. Commission levels are also something that you can set yourself.

The future of affiliate marketing

With the boom in social networking, affiliate marketing is going to play an even bigger part in online business activities. Social networking is quick. A customer could review your product and within minutes you could be gaining new traffic.

The benefits and use of Skype are certainly no secret to the majority of businesses. It offers an incredibly cheap alternative to standard call charges and has even been proven to improve calling efficiency and productivity. As such, Skype’s uses transfer ideally over to cold calling so if you regularly undertake any cold calling and you still use a standard land line or, and we find it unlikely but you never know, a mobile phone then you should consider the following.

Skype can work out considerably cheaper than standard call costs with any telephone carrier. Calls to other Skype numbers are free and you can get some incredibly priced packages that put BT, Sky, TalkTalk, and other service providers firmly in the shade. As cold calling is usually done en masse it can mean ringing hundreds, or even thousands of numbers, so the savings can prove to be incredible.

As well as cost efficiency, Skype cold calling has the advantage of being more productive too. Some figures estimate that you would be able to make 50% more calls in the same amount of time when using Skype. Browser plug ins, and even plug ins for Excel and other office software exist that enable single click dialling. Using these tools you will be able to quickly and efficiently work through lists of telephone leads from any source giving the best possible results.

Skype numbers can be registered with the TPS, or Telephone Preference Service, in the same way as standard numbers can. What’s more, it is vital that you check any number you have details of has not registered with the TPS because if you call a number that is part of the Telephone Preference Service then you or your business can face thousands of pounds of fines. No cold call is worth that kind of money.

Used properly, Skype can prove to be a highly effective and inexpensive business tool. As a cold calling tool, it can be used to greatly increase efficiency while also greatly reducing the call costs associated with your direct marketing.

Useful links:

• www.skype.com

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Viral marketing as a term hardly conjures up wonderful images of success and grandeur and yet done properly and effectively it can be one of the most powerful forms of online marketing your business or website can enjoy.

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