Increasing E-Commerce Website Sales: A Guide for the Online Newbie


Because of this encouraging surge in activity, many individuals are now interested in becoming e-commerce merchants. To profit from your online business, you must first produce a unique website that will intrigue visitors and interest them in your items.

In reality, the e-commerce business is not much different than your average offline retail venture. Both vendors have products that he aims to sell, and each retailer must discover the appropriate avenue to market these items. Online shoppers crave the same things that traditional shoppers demand: a pleasant shopping experience, in-stock merchandise, and a courteous vendor. If you seek to please the customer, your e-commerce business shall prosper.

Almost every e-commerce website that is currently profiting has a clean, crisp layout, and effortless navigation. It is essential for you to have several categories featuring your products that are easy to browse. Clear, detailed images should also be readily available. Customers should have the opportunity to examine your products and compare them with others.

An ideal e-commerce store will have many WebPages. These pages will be organized into various categories, with searchable properties, and will use thumbnail pictures for faster loading time. Each picture should also have a detailed description of the product. The easier the site is to access, the more likely it is the visitor will purchase a product.

Website security has become a major issue in cyberspace. It is up to you as an e-commerce vendor to make each one of your customers feel at ease shopping at your online store. It is crucial for you to have Secure Socket Layering (SSL) on your online payment pages, so you have the capacity to handle encrypted transactions, such as credit card processing. Outwardly demonstrating to your customers that your website is secure will make them more comfortable shopping with you.

Customer service information should be an eminent characteristic on your e-commerce website. It is essential that you have a Contact Us link on your site's menu, and on every page of your website. This link should be directed to another page, which lists an e-mail address, phone number, and mailing address. Customers need to feel that they can contact you at any time if they have any questions or problems. It is also wise to have a Frequently Asked Questions section to your site, which provides answers to common queries.

With the e-commerce business leading the way in the web of money-making ventures, many are racing to join the masses. While building and eventually increasing sales to your e-commerce site may not come easily at first, in time, the rewards will be plentiful.

Dr. J. Elisha BurkeCopyright 2005 Burke Publications All Rights Reserved

Copyright 2005 Elisha Burke

Dr. J. Elisha Burke, an educator and entrepreneur, has been involved in various business enterprises. Dr. Burke is an educator, writer and motivational speaker on a variety of topics.


More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More E-Commerce Information:

Related Articles


The Top 10 E-Commerce Ways to Follow up with Clients - Part 2
Did you know that 80% of all sales are made after the 5th contact? The biggest mistake we make is not following up with our clients regularly. We not only lose the chance to offer other services and products, we lose the chance for satisfied clients' referrals.
ECommerce Scenario in Pakistan
Pakistan with highest growth rates in 1960s and bad politics in 1980s and 90s but, the stage is totally changed in 2000s as the economy is managed by those who once run the most successful Global Financial Houses. Today Pakistan has achieved 8.
Online Lead Generation: Can it Work for My Business?
Business-to-business service providers have a wide range of tactics they can deploy to gain new clients or customers. Direct mail; cold calling; TV, radio or print advertising are all ways in which B2B services gain new customers.
The Secret Science Of Online Shopping
In theory you could create a retail web site with a limitless selection; an online store where every kind of merchandise known to man could be sold. Would people be interested in buying from such a huge enterprise?Why do people buy online?Location: You can shop online from almost anywhere as long as you have access to a power supply and a telephone connection.
Chinas IT Industry to Maintain Fast Growth
China's IT industry is expected to see a sales revenue of 2.68 trillion yuan (US$322.
E-commerce: Is It Right for You?
The birth of the Internet and the mass availability of personal Computers in the late 80's changed peoples life forever, Everyone now has had the potential to be their own boss whether you are mother at home looking after your children or a manual laborer there are opportunities in abundance . Just a search on Google for business opportunities will bring up more offers than your parents would have had in their whole life.
Why Arent People Buying From Your Ecommerce Website?
Your stock is tempting, your prices right - your ecommerce website is good to go, but somehow the customers just aren't buying. So where are you going wrong?Make sure people can find your ecommerce website.
Shopping Cart Usability
Usable Shopping Carts Increase SalesE-commerce has been around since 1993 under many different names, but one thing remains constant; shoppers want usable web sites. Without a usable shopping cart the sites typically fail from poor performance.
Ecommerce Marketing Plan
Concept of ServiceThe current work deals with marketing offer of e-commerce service. It highlights the essential steps of marketing of a brand-new firm offering services of website construction, design, programming, development, and promotion.
Your Site is all Direct Marketing
This may not be a popular view, but I think writing a web site is very similar to writing a piece of direct mail. I'm not talking about smash-and-grab fliers.
Selling Online for Newbies
If you are interested in selling online, it is quite easy to get started. First of all you must have a product or service to sell.
How To Prevent Your 3rd Party Merchant Account From Suspension
What would you do if you were sent an email from your online credit card processor telling you that your account has been suspended or frozen?How are you going to pay the bills in the meantime?It is extremely important for you to familiarize yourself with the terms of your contract with your credit card processor.As long as you comply with their set regulation and guidelines to maintain your account in good standing you should have no problems.
Selling Globally Through a B2B Exchange
Participation in B2B Exchanges is increasingly becoming one of the fastest growing marketing methods for businesses looking foraugmenting their client base beyond their local markets. Any good B2B Exchange offers direct contact with thousands of prospective buyers in a single location.
eCommerce Software Solutions
All of the long, grueling nights and an unknown number of working weekends spent converting your dream into reality finally paid off-in a big way! Affiliates are signing up every single day and the clicks have really turned into cash. Your success is not limited to a lonely website but several and all of them are helping you move very diverse product lines.
Merchant Accounts: What They Can Do For You
Congratulations! You created an impulse in a customer to buy your product. One small catch? without some way to take their credit card number, your sale is as good as gone.
Government Buying and Selling on the Internet
Global Insight, a leading economic and financial forecasting company, (formerly DRI-WEFA), states that all levels of government (federal, state, and local) should see steady increases in the purchases of goods and services through the year 2009.Vendors willing to make the commitment to sell to government can reap the benefits of this projected government spending.
3 Powerful Concepts That Climb Marketing Mountains
You have probably heard many times how you should offerfree reports. Like many of us, the idea of putting in workto give something away may have gone through youtransparent.
Getting Started in ECommerce - Part One
In 2004, Enquiro.com conducted a study of the search behaviors of men vs.
How to Boost Conversion Rates, While Lowering Merchant Account Fees!
Using an Address Verification System (AVS) when processing your online credit card transactions can help to reduce the number of fraudulent transactions you receive. However, most online merchants don't know that using AVS can also reduce your number of legitimate orders.
The Plain Man's Guide to Making Money Online
I'm a plain man who uses plain thinking in devising strategies for making money online.I do not spend obscene mounts of money attending high ticket web conferences nor do I rush to purchase the latest collection of web casts at outrageous prices.