October 23, 2009, Newsletter Issue #233: Designing Your E-commerce Website

Tip of the Week

The basic definition of e-commerce is "buying and selling through the Internet." And there are a myriad ways to conduct e-commerce, but as your business grows and develops you will need to design your website to support online shopping.


Fortunately for us, conducting business online has gone a long way from its early beginnings in the 1990s and evolved since the dot com crash in 2002.


So how do you design your e-commerce website?


First, decide on your particular strategy and business model. Will you be selling digital products, physical products or both? Remember, the digital shopping cart system you will use will be automating this process, so you need to know what capabilities it must have. Using the right business tools can help ensure that your online business will grow and be profitable.


You'll also need to decide whether you want your e-commerce software to integrate back-end marketing tactics such as up sells, down sells or even suggesting other products to add to the cart.


Think of it this way, a digital shopping cart is a marketing tool that allows your customers to place their selected items in a virtual "basket" and it can act like the knick-knack racks next to the cashier, as well, enticing them to add more to their purchase.


You see, to be effective, you want your e-commerce website to follow the example of a real life shopping cart. You want customers to place whatever items they want in it and then let a virtual cashier (your payment processor) work out the total for them.


But your e-commerce website does more than help you make sales. It can also protect you against cyber thieves. If you are selling digital products, it can protect your download page so that only paying customers gain access to it.


And, because e-commerce software works through a secure connection on the Internet, it also protects your customers' financial data from getting into the wrong hands ... something that will make them more comfortable buying from you.


Especially in today's environment of rampant identity theft and cyber crime, if you are not offering this level of security to your customers for their online transactions, you will loose a lot of potential business. By integrating e-commerce software with your website, you can expand your market base and eventually increase your profits.


Better yet, this same shopping cart technology will also help you organize your catalog of products, assist you with managing your business transactions and help you update keep track of your inventory and sales. The technology can even assist you in making projections that will be beneficial for you when making future marketing decisions.


And some e-commerce systems will help you with your taxes, by keeping track of all the information you'll need to make your life easier during tax season. Indeed, investing in digital shopping cart software is a wise decision and a logical move for your online business.


Once you've selected your software, you'll next need to decide how to best integrate it with your site. Depending on what you choose, your options may be limited or as open as your imagination will permit. So keep that in mind, too, when you choose your e-commerce software.


There are a number of companies that offer various kinds of e-commerce shopping carts and each can be customized in various ways to fit your needs. Always keep in mind that this is an investment and as such is often not free. In fact, the free options available are not worth the time you'll have to invest to make them work ... and they will limit your growth potential. Bringing your e-commerce website to the next step by means of a digital shopping cart will surely help you find the success online that you dream of.



Now that you are convinced you need an digital shopping cart, where do you get one? Learn about DLGuard, a cost effective and flexible option I use in my business, by visiting my blog at http://digital-shopping-cart.blogspot.com.

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