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eCommerce Applications can Help your Business Grow
Dr Phillip Lee, Head of Web Sevices (Opportunity Wales)
If you use eCommerce effectively within your business, which tools do you think you could not do without?
I am not a gambling man but I'm willing to bet that on your list is your computer, your Web site and Internet access. But what about those other things that you take for granted; such as search engine traffic, eMail and web statistics? Without them you wouldn't be able to attract new customers, keep in touch with existing ones and measure the value of improvements to your site.
Attracting new visitors to your site is essential if you want to your business to grow, but most enterprises avoid any kind of search engine marketing. When asked why, most claim that they 'don't have the time' or that 'it's too complex', yet without a steady stream of new customers any business, whether on-line or not, risks stagnating.
Search engine marketing needn't be time-consuming or complex. In fact, the theory is simple - gain quality inbound links from other relevant respected sites and you will see an increase in visitor numbers. Getting the links does take time which is why most people don't do it, but since building traffic through so-called 'organic' search engine marketing is a slow process, it's an ideal activity to do for half-hour on a Friday afternoon.
If you would like quicker results, you can buy visitors using a pay-per-click advertising programme, Google AdWords, although care needs to be taken to ensure that you target appropriate search phrases and set a maximum daily budget.
eMail, on the other hand, is an excellent tool to retain existing customers - after all, it's easier and cheaper to sell to an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one. Yet, once again, surprisingly few companies use eMail marketing through fear of being labeled as spammers. In a world where people are increasingly wary of handing over their eMail addresses in case they get even more spam, you need to provide visitors to your site with a compelling reason to part with their eMail address. A good way to do this is to offer them something in return that is of little value to you but which they perceive to be of value - a free eBook would be a good example.
Getting their eMail address is just part of the process though. Make sure that you also log the time and date that they signed up, together with their computers numeric IP address. This will enable you, should they accuse you of spamming them at a later date, to show them exactly when they signed up.
Additionally, there is little point in bringing people to your site if you can't track and measure what they do. Most Web hosts supply basic tracking information so there is no excuse for not checking where people have come from, which search phrases they used to find your site and how many pages they looked at. If your web host does not offer any tracking capability at all, there are plenty of free services that you could use.
Now if any of this sounds too complicated or time-intensive, help is at hand. Through our Implementation Support service, Opportunity Wales will provide an expert eCommerce adviser who will help you to implement some or all of the ideas that I've described. This service is not expensive, and in fact it represents exceptional value for money. One potential client that I spoke to the other day was astounded when I told her that the specialist eCommerce support was available for just £200 for two days of support. Her response: "blimey, that's less than the cost of a plumber!"
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