Small Business E-Commerce Basics

Ann Marie van den Hurk, APR • @amvandenhurk • ann@mindthegappr.com • 302-563-0992
E-Commerce Basics
for Small Business

In the Next 3 Hours…
Website Basics
E-Mail/SMS-Text Marketing
Social Media
E-Commerce

When you start a business,
what is your goal?

Where are our
customers?
Mobile - Online

Website Basics
Did you know…
51 percent of small businesses have
websites, while 97 percent of consumers
search for services and products online.

Reasons
Websites can be your 24-hour salesperson
Websites are cost-effective
Websites are adaptable
Websites are measurable
Websites are referral tools

A good website should…
Be visually appealing to the users.
Share great content above the fold
Include a call to action and contact information
Load each website page in under four seconds
Be mobile-ready Include a regularly updated blog (Ideal)

Purpose
DYI or Hire a Pro
Platform
Domain and hosting
Cost
Design
Google Analytics
SEO
The Basics

Type of Sites
What purpose is your website to serve?
[ ] Establish a Web presence for our company
[ ] Generate requests for services/products
[ ] Create an online portfolio of your work
[ ] Educational
[ ] Online community
[ ] Online store to sell products
[ ] Provide customer service/information to our clients

DYI or Hire a Pro?

Types of Platforms
WordPress - Industry Standard
SquareSpace
Weebly
Wix

Domain name is the naming system for giving
addresses to websites
Hosting allows organizations and individuals to post a
website or web page on to the Internet
Domain & Hosting
Cost
Domain and Hosting: $12-$35/month
Design: $250-$2500 one-time cost
Maintenance: $25/month

Domain and Hosting: $12-$35/month
Design: $250-$2500 one-time cost
Maintenance: $25/month
Cost

User-friendly
Responsive Design
Design

Google Analytics
Freemium web analytics service offered by Google that
tracks and reports website traffic.

80% of all web traﬃc begins with a search

That’s how you get found on the Internet in searches
Keywords are searchable content making it helpful for
search engines to find you.
Search Engine
Optimization
or SEO

Website Musts
Business Name
Address
Contact information
Services and Products
How customers can get them.
Security
Back-ups
Landing Pages

E-Mail/SMS-Text
Marketing

Email and/or SMS-Text marketing is sending a commercial
message, typically to a group of people, using email or text.
Open Rate is the percentage of recipients who open the
digital correspondence.
Average Click Rate is the percentage of recipients who act
on your call to action.
Average open rate for retail is 22.07%
Average click rate for retail is 2.8%
Average open rate for professional services 21%
Average click rate for professional services
Terms

Email: Mail Chimp (free) and Constant Contact
(paid)
SMS-Text: SlickText, SumoText, ProTexting
Services

Let’s talk SPAM… without permission-based
marketing… you will be eating spam since ﬁnes
are large and you will be blacklisted meaning
providers will refuse to allow your emails to go
through.

SPAM is IILEGAL
The CAN-SPAM Act 
A law that sets the rules for commercial email,
establishes requirements for commercial
messages, gives recipients the right to have you
stop emailing them, and spells out tough
penalties for violations.
TCPA regulations

E-Mail Marketing
Best Practices
Develop a plan
Ask for emails anywhere and everywhere.
Solid Call to Action and put it at the top
Personalize your emails
Create emails easy to scan and read
Automate your welcome email
Segment your email list.

Develop a plan
Ask for numbers anywhere and everywhere.
Keep your message to 160 characters
Call to Action should be a phone number or URL
Use Short Code
Timing is everything
Segment your email list.
SMS-Text Marketing
Best Practices

Social Media

Just another communications channel
Social Media

How Many Social
Networking Platforms
are there?

Top US Social Networks
Facebook - 1.71 billion users
YouTube - Over 1 billion users
LinkedIn - 450 million users
Instagram - 400 million users
Twitter - 320 million users
Google + - 300 millions users
Pinterest - 100 million users
Snapchat - 100 million users

2/3 of ALL Americans
use social media

How Many Social
Networks are You On?
Most Americans use about 5 social media platforms.

On At Least One of
Those Networks

Social Media
Best Practices
Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business
Earn Your Audience’s Trust
Make Your Posts Visually Appealing
Trial and Error
Take Advantage of User-Generated Content
Manage Your Online Reputation
Use a Social Media-Management Tool
Don’t Forget Paid Advertising

Things to know…
E-commerce Platform & Website CMS
Product Options
One-page Checkout & Cart Access
Taxes and Shipping
Payment Gateways & SSL (Secure Socket Layer)
Merchant Accounts
Security and PCI Compliance (www.pcicomplianceguide.org)
Google Analytics

Will you write your content? Photos?
Videos?

Who is in charge of the website? To
update?

Questions to Answer
What are your business goals?
How does this fit into it?
Who is your idea customer?
If you were your idea customer, then what would you be looking for when
visiting the website or getting a message from you?
When customers land on your page then what do you want them to do?
What methods can you reach customers with?
If an online store, what shopping cart solution are you using?
How are you accepting payments? Charging tax?Shipping?

Website
Social Media Platforms
Monitoring Programs
Google My Business
Claim Business On Online Review Sites
Digital Essentials

Ann Marie van den Hurk, APR
Mind The Gap Public Relations, LLC | Digital Public Relations Firm
ann@mindthegappr.com
+1 302.563.0992 mobile
@amvandenhurk

Small Business E-Commerce Basics

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