If your product is ship-ready and fits the e-commerce model of selling it online, there are important things to consider before opening up your online, digital cash register. An e-commerce site has nuances and issues that go beyond that of the typical information type website. Since most of my e-commerce experience is with WordPress, I will speak from that context, however many of the following tips apply to other e-commerce platforms.
Below are some practical tips and considerations:
- Think of the entire buying and selling process. From the landing page, the shopping cart, to the credit card transaction, and to the shipping and tax bracket by state selection and setup. You must cover all of these.
- Use an e-commerce plugin or tool that integrates with your accounting software, such as Quickbooks.
- WooCommerce (www.woothemes.com/woocommerce/), offers accounting, import and export, payment gateways, products, reporting, shipping methods, tax rates by state, third party, and subscription plugins and extensions.
- Have simple and clear product buy pages with pictures and bulleted descriptions of your products.
- Visit websites that do e-commerce well. Note how they streamline and simplify the process. Model those examples.
- Make sure to include a Terms of Service agreement on your website if you plan to sell online. Since online financial transactions include storing personal information, you will need such an agreement. There are some online you can view as templates.
- Purchase an SSL certificate. An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate encrypts information sent to the server using SSL technology. This protects credit card information and ensures the privacy and protection of e-commerce data used during the buying and selling process. It makes website transaction secure. It’s usually an annual subscription purchased through your hosting company.
- Use e-commerce plugins that allow integration with the Amazons of the world so you can also refer your website traffic to other online affiliate vendors you may offer your products on.
- Amazon example: I sell my books on Amazon using a POD model, or print on demand. My books are not printed until an order is placed on Amazon. I use PPC advertising to direct traffic to my website’s book landing page. This page offers a descriptions of my books, in addition to an Amazon buy button. Once my website visitor clicks on the buy button, Amazon handles the rest of the transaction. Keep in mind online distribution channels like Amazon do take a percentage of your sales transaction as a service fee.
- Sell both direct and through third-party online distribution channels to maximize your reach. This choice depends on your product line and your infrastructure for direct online selling and shipping from your location.
- Make sure buyers can easily contact you through both an on-site contact form and by phone. Be available.
- Ask for permission to collect buyers email addresses so you can stay in touch and send emails about future offers.
- As Seth Godin says about selling online: “Get rich slow.”
By Stuart Atkins
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