A presentation about e-commerce and online shopping carts for business owners.

1. e-COMMERCE:EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SELLING ONLINE

2. Agenda About me and e-CBD The e-commerce landscape How to know when you’re ready to sell online Shopping cart options Dealing with your bank – What you need to know The five biggest mistakes you can make Top ten tips for selling online Case Studies Marketing your store Further reading

4. Worked in Public Relations and Journalism

5. Joined e-CBD with Marilyn Strauss in 2001

6. Focussed on online marketing

7. Stared memery 2008

8. I’m Marketing Magazine’s ‘Online Marketing Guru’

10. Who is already selling online?

11. Who is using a payment gateway with their bank?

21. How to know when you’re ready to sell online

22. How to know when you’re ready Are people looking for what you want to sell? Will people buy what you sell online? Can you compete?

23. How to know when you’re ready Are people looking for what you want to sell? Go to Google’s Keyword Tool and find out! https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal Example http://www.dogtrainingproducts.com.au ‘dog harness’

25. How to know when you’re ready Will people buy what you sell online? Are there competitors online? Are they doing well? (Longevity, nice design, marketing budget) What if you’re the first to sell online? (They said no-one would buy shoes online) Are you selling something people need to experience? (You’ll have a hard time selling boutique wine to new customers, and easy time to existing customers) Are you selling something people want NOW? (Pizza sells very well online, beer does not)

26. How to know when you’re ready Can you compete? Don’t compete with Amazon.com unless you’re Dymocks Don’t compete with eBay Find your niche But make sure it’s profitable

27. How to know when you’re ready Finding your niche – The Long Tail Source: http://blog.hubpages.com/2008/10/the-long-tail-of-hubpages/

28. How to know when you’re ready Finding your niche – The Long Tail Source: http://modernl.com/article/forget-the-long-tail-go-for-the-sweet-spike

29. Shopping Cart Options

30. Shopping Cart Options PayPal Buy Buttons PayPal Shopping Cart Shopping cart linked to PayPal or to your bank

31. Shopping Cart Options PayPal – Free payment network Great for dipping your toe in the water Easy to setup Pay per sale Takes people away from your site People get scared of PayPal Doesn’t go straight to your bank

32. Shopping Cart Options PayPal Examples http://blackmarketrhythmco.bandcamp.com/ http://twollow.com

33. Shopping Cart Options PayPal Shopping Cart Visit PayPal.com.au and create an account for details

35. Incorporate a large database of products

36. Advanced tracking and stats

37. Deal with your bank, integrate with Quickbooks and make your accountant happyYou need a merchant account

38. Dealing with your bank – What you need to know You need a site before you can get a merchant account You need a payment gateway – the bank will try and sell you theirs Must show your full contact details Need a returns policy Show bank guidelines Costs: Per transaction Yearly fee

39. Shopping Cart Options Professional Shopping Cart e-CBD Shopping Cart (Interspire)

40. The Five Biggest e-commerce mistakes

41. The Five Biggest e-commerce Mistakes Making the checkout process to complicated Being too expensive Looking untrustworthy Not doing your research Know your competitors back to front Know your conversion rates Know your profitibility Not being visible in Google

42. Top ten tips for selling online

44. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping)

45. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping)

46. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping) Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around)

47. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping) Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around) Explain everything as well as you can (and as succinctly) Video, image galleries

48. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping) Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around) Explain everything as well as you can (and as succinctly) Video, image galleries Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login.

49. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping) Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around) Explain everything as well as you can (and as succinctly) Video, image galleries Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling

50. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping) Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around) Explain everything as well as you can (and as succinctly) Video, image galleries Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling Give an incentive for them to buy from you

51. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping) Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around) Explain everything as well as you can (and as succinctly) Video, image galleries Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling Give an incentive for them to buy from you Create a sense of urgency

52. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping) Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around) Explain everything as well as you can (and as succinctly) Video, image galleries Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling Give an incentive for them to buy from you Create a sense of urgency Answer their questions without them having to ask (FAQs)

53. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping) Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around) Explain everything as well as you can (and as succinctly) Video, image galleries Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling Give an incentive for them to buy from you Create a sense of urgency Answer their questions without them having to ask (FAQs) Make your products easy to find with intuitive searches and accurate categories

54. Top ten tips for selling online Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping) Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around) Explain everything as well as you can (and as succinctly) Video, image galleries Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling Give an incentive for them to buy from you Create a sense of urgency Answer their questions without them having to ask (FAQs) Make your products easy to find with intuitive searches and accurate categories Give them a reason to come back (most sales happen to existing customers)

55. Case Studies

56. Case Studies Flowers

57. Marketing your Store

58. Marketing your Store SEO AdWords Email Marketing Social Media Marketing Advertising, PR and Word of Mouth

59. Search Engine Optimisation

60. Search Engine Optimisation Create Unique, Descriptive, Accurate Page Titles Accurately describe the page's content Create unique title tags for each page Use brief, but descriptive titles

61. Search Engine Optimisation Use the Description META Tag Accurately summarize the page's content - Write a description that would both inform and interest users if they saw your description meta tag as a snippet in a search result. Use unique descriptions for each page - Having a different description meta tag for each page helps both users and Google,

62. Search Engine Optimisation Get People to Link to You Search for the keywords you’re targeting and note the top 30 results. If appropriate and likely, ask them for a link. Search for the keywords you’re targeting and note the top 30 results. Go to www.yahoo.com and check the backlinks of each of them using the “link:http://www.website.com” query. See who comes up and if they’re appropriate, write to them nicely and offer to swap links. Get people to use descriptive anchor text when they link to you. Eg. e-CBD Web Design is a great business. ‘Click here’ search

63. Search Engine Optimisation Create Interesting Content! Write content about whatever it is you want to be found for. Google won’t list your site for information you don’t talk about. Write the kind of content people will want to link to! Start a blog with useful industry information, tips or news

64. Search Engine Optimisation Read! http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

65. AdWords

67. It’s nice, but it means that if your ads don’t perform well, you’ll end up paying more so always get professional advice, at least at the beginning, to help set up your campaign, or they’ll be tainted forever.

68. Include your phone number in your ad – then you don’t have to pay for the click.

70. Create a special offer

71. Setup conversion goals so you can track sales

72. Create dedicated landing pages with content targeted to people coming from Google – it’s almost always a bad idea to send people straight to your homepage

73. Make every word count, get rid of useless words

76. Offer everyone on your site a newsletter with incentives, like special deals

77. Send them a welcome message as soon as they’ve subscribed

78. Personalise each newsletter as much as you can. Make the recipient feel special

79. Tailor the subject line for your audience

80. If they unsubscribe, ask why. Get feedback on what you could have done better

81. Don’t send anything without testing it first!

82. Track referrals on your website using Google Analytics

84. Make sure the recipients can see who it’s coming from, your name, or your company (or both).

85. Remember that inboxes are smaller than computer screens. Don’t make your email too wide.

86. Make sure it looks good on an iPhone

87. Have a subscribe option at the bottom of emails as well as an unsubscribe. People might have forwarded their friends the email. Make it easy for them to keep getting it.

89. Social Media Marketing Use Facebook advertising, it’s cheap Setup a Facebook page for your business and give people incentives to join Set up a Google alert for your brand and engage the people who are talking about you, wherever they are talking Set up alerts for your industry (especially if no one is talking about your brand) Keep an eye on what people near you are saying on Twitter Spend some time each day reading about what other people are doing. There are 1 billion social media marketing blogs out there. Reading blogs is much easier than writing blogs. Create a community of interest around what you do. It takes time, but it’s worth it. Don’t start something you can’t finish or maintain properly or it’s a waste of time and you’re better off with Google Ads Use LinkedIn as a networking tool. Join groups and ask questions. If you want people to talk about you, be creative (or pay someone who is).

90. Advertising, PR and Word of Mouth

91. Advertising, PR and Word of Mouth You could write a book on each of these Each has its place, but all help to give legitimacy to an online store If people recognise your brand when they find you online, you’re more likely to make a sale Write down the names of as many online flower stores we visited before as you can remember. How many can you think of?

93. Further Reading

94. Further Reading Seth Godin’s Blog The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson How to Sell Online, eBook by e-CBD

95. QUESTION TIME More Information? 1300 733 088 www.e-cbd.com sally@e-cbd.com matt@e-cbd.com