Each year, Internet users purchase billions of dollars worth
of products and services online, according to Web researcher
eMarketer. Is your business getting its share of the pie?
You can capitalize on the power of the Internet, if you follow
these four important steps to successful online selling.
Step 1: Build a site with good design and content
Create a Website with a design that's attractive, well-organized
and easy to navigate. This will make it easier and faster for
site visitors to find their way around - and shop for your
products or services.
And remember: Pictures tell; words sell. So your site also must
offer content that makes site visitors want to stick around. You
should present clear, simple and useful information…so people
will want to buy from you.
Step 2: Get ecommerce-ready
Obviously, you need to accept credit cards, checks and other
forms of payments online. This will allow you business to tap
into a vast marketplace where millions of consumers spend
billions of dollars each year. Plus, you'll be able to make more,
larger and impulse sales, as well as enjoy improved cash flow,
enhanced credibility and a competitive edge.
You need four key ingredients to successfully ring up online
sales:
1. A merchant account for business owners.
2. Shopping cart software that allows customers to collect and
pay for items from your online store.
3. A payment gateway to processes your customers' credit cards
and communicate between the merchant's Website, the bank holding
the merchant account, and the bank holding the financial records
of the customer.
4. A secure Website that is communicating with a payment gateway
that, in turn, is communicating with a banking computer system.
Step 3: Submit your site to major search engines
Once your site is equipped to sell online, it's critical to
submit your Web address to search engines. Eight out of 10 people
surfing the Web use search engines or search directories to
navigate their way around online, according to the eMarketing
Association. And 54 percent of experienced online shoppers
primarily rely on a search engine when trying to find a product
to purchase online, says Jupiter Communications.
At the very least, you should submit your site to top U.S. search
tools like Yahoo, Google, the Open Directory, MSN, Overture and
Ask Jeeves.
Step 4: Use email to stimulate online sales
Email is used by 96 percent of Internet users, making it the
ideal tool to advertise your Website. You can use email marketing
to send electronic newsletters, letters, announcements,
promotions, sales and customer support.
An email marketing campaign is easier, cheaper and faster to
implement than a traditional direct mail promotion. Plus, the
response rate of the typical email campaign easily outpaces that
of conventional mailings. Email click-through rates can exceed 20
percent, while conventional direct mail campaign responses are 2
percent, at best.
Step 5: Unleash the power of auto responders to boost online
sales
Auto responders let you automatically reply to incoming email
requests, so you can instantly respond to the needs of existing
and potential customers. They can be your most powerful weapon
for boosting online sales.
Here's why: Sixty percent of a site's visitors who eventually end
up buying a product or service don't do so on their first visit,
says Auto responder Review.com. And in fact, 80 percent of all
sales are made on the fifth through twelfth contact with a
prospect, according to the National Sales Executive Association.
So if you don't use an auto responder or some other way to follow
up with potential customers, you can miss out on up to 80 percent
of your potential online sales.
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