eCommerce Course

Welcome to the first part of this 6-part e-course on building your own e-commerce website. Establishing a solid e-commerce website can grow your business or be a great way to create a new retail establishment. In this six-part e-course, we will take you through the steps of creating a virtual storefront.

Below is the schedule for this e-course:

• Part One: A look at the five elements that go into a successful site - navigation, displays, readability, informative copy and ease in purchasing.
• Part Two: How to decide upon a domain name and register it.
• Part Three: What to look for in a hosting company, which will serve as your web host.
• Part Four: Should you construct your own site or hire a company specialising in web design? We examine how to create your retail site.
• Part Five: The three major components that generate quick sales and return customers - product database and availability, payment options and shopping carts.
• Part Six: A consideration of the continuing development of your site, including promotion, maintenance and improvements.
  
  

The Essential Elements

There are five key aspects that you must pay close attention to when constructing your site. In order to give your business optimum sales potential be sure to carefully consider and plan the following elements.

Navigation

You want your potential customers to be able to easily get around your site and find what they want. Your online store needs to show numerous items at once, while giving visitors the option to simply "click" and get more in-depth information on a product in which they are interested. Allow your customers the chance to browse and enjoy your products.

You should visit as many different sites as possible, including those run by your competitors. Analyse what makes each site attractive, and what aspects can be improved. Plan your site accordingly by designing mockups in MS Paint, Photoshop or on paper.

Displays

People want to see what they are buying. Depending upon what you are selling, offering various viewing angles of a product can be enticing. Items such as jewelry, furniture and antiques are much more appealing when seen from various angles.

Set up your displays so that related products are included. If you're selling candles, include appropriate holders. Winter coats might include coordinated gloves and scarves. Layout is important.

Readability

Like display, this is also a function of design. With readability, you're considering how easy it is to actually see your descriptions and instructions and how crisp and clear your images are. If a visitor can't read about your product because the typeface or photos are too small or faint, they will get frustrated and leave without purchasing anything.

Written Information

Product descriptions should be well written and interesting. Along with providing basic information about your products (the features), it's effective to let the visitor know what an item will do for them (the benefits). Use words to connect your products with your customers.

Directions on ordering merchandise, return and exchange policies and customer service should be easy to read and understand. A telephone number for customer service can help create confidence in your site and generate more sales.

Ease in Purchasing

Make the process of buying something as easy as possible. One of the major selling points for any Internet business is the fact that shopping online makes life simpler. If a customer has to go through five or six web pages before a sale is complete, they may just give up. It should take no more than three clicks from one page to another to make a purchase. The software you choose for the purchasing process will determine how long it takes to buy something. Carefully research your options, making sure that you choose software that's simple to use but that still has sound security features (more on checkout options in part 5).

Paying attention to these five elements will aid in the success of your online store. Take time to research sites that are consumer friendly and then weigh your choices. Making your virtual storefront fun and easy to use is a great way to begin your planning and will be handsomly repaid by higher sales once your site is live.

In Part Two of this e-course, we will consider how to choose your domain name and the process of registering it.

To our success working together,

The eSources.co.uk Team
http://www.esources.co.uk/a/263433

Choosing and Registering Your Domain Name - Part 2 of 6

Welcome to the second instalment of this 6-part ecourse on setting up your own e-commerce website.

In this second instalment on creating your own online store, we are going to give you some tips on selecting your domain name and let you know how to register it.

What's in a Domain Name?

The main thing that should be in a domain name is simplicity. Choose a domain name that is easy for people to remember. Do not include hyphens or numbers in your domain; both are tough to recall. Also, people are most familiar with .com and .co.uk (for a UK audience). So try to use either of those suffixes.

The name should not be overly clever. If you create a domain name that's a great inside joke to you and your friends but no one else can retain it, you will not be well served. It's not a good sign if you have to tell people how to spell the name.

Domain names should be:

• Short - one word or a quick phrase.
• Understood when heard once.
• Able to be spelled when heard.

Using the name of your company is best. If that name has already been taken, then try creating a domain that describes what you sell. Perhaps you sell bakeware; then try bakewarekeyword.co.uk or keywordbakeware.co.uk (where keyword is any word that is, in the mind of the buyer, closely related to your business). To find out what buyers search for, you can use keyword research tools like the one found at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/).

Hint: if you are creating a new online company come up with the company name, and before finalizing it, see if it is available as a domain. If it's taken, then try to come up with another company name and search that as a domain. It's best if your company name and domain name are the same.

Registering Your Domain

Registering your domain name is relatively easy, fast and inexpensive. You use a registrar that has been granted a license to register domains. Depending upon which registration service you choose, prices vary. Some will argue that registering your domain name for a period longer than 1 year will be beneficial to your future search engine rankings. This is in part true; however as a start up business we realise your budget may be limited. For the best value for money for UK domains we strongly recommend 1&1, which offers both domain registration and hosting (more on hosting in part 3). They charge only £4.99 for 2 years for .co.uk domains, and £8.99 for .com domains for 1 year. For a US host a very good option is GoDaddy. If you decide to choose a different registrar, bear in mind the following criteria:

1. Find one that's relatively inexpensive.
2. Use a service that has a site that's easy to use.
3. Make sure that once your domain is registered, you can easily access it, change your account information and sell or transfer the domain.
4. Choose a provider that offers over the phone support 24/7.
5. Do not decide to pay less if you must sacrifice ease of use, access to your domain or 24/7 support.

If you put "uk domains" or "domain registration" into a search engine, you'll find many companies offering these services. Always take time to carefully research these providers, making your choice based on the criteria above.

Part of a registration company's service is a free instantaneous search to make sure no one else is using that domain. Within seconds of putting in your preferred domain and clicking search, you'll be told if it is available and given the opportunity to register it. Or you can use http://www.whois.sc for more in-depth information on any domain.

Creating a domain name that is short and easy to recall is essential. This will help people remember your company, making it easy for them to return to your site without needing to first find you on search engines or marketing material. A return visit is priceless because it often implies intent to buy. Creating your domain using the name of your company is preferable.

In Part Three of our series on setting up your own e-commerce site, we'll determine what services you should expect to get from your hosting company.

To our success working together,

The eSources.co.uk Team
www.eSources.co.uk
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+44 (0)845 226 3707

Selecting a supplier part 3

Welcome to the third part of this 5-part e-course on drop shipping and how to use it to your advantage. In Step 3, you need to select a supplier or suppliers for your products.

As we illustrated in the Basics discussion, the best supplier may be the manufacturer because you will not need to pay the markups of wholesalers and distributors. However, manufacturers may be focused on production and not interested in or capable of taking on the fulfilment function. The wholesaler or distributor may be considered a "middle man" but they play an important and useful role in connecting manufacturers to buyers. If the manufacturer of your product does not work with individual buyers, ask which of their wholesalers or distributors offer drop shipping.

Locate possible suppliers

There are many ways to locate possible suppliers for your products. We'll describe a variety of options then give you our recommendation for the most effective method of finding suppliers.

1. If you know the products you want to sell, find out the name of the company that manufactures the product and inquire about their willingness to sell to you on a drop ship basis. If the company does not operate that way, ask if they have a wholesaler or distributor who might strike this type of relationship with you.
2. If you know the type of product you want to sell, but do not have a specific manufacturer in mind, you can try Googling the "product + drop shipping". This method should yield some possible candidates for a drop shipping relationship. However, it's a real challenge to make individual contacts and evaluate all of those suppliers, plus you are much more likely to run into middlemen.
3. You can buy drop ship distributor lists, sometimes very inexpensively. However, in our experience, you get what you pay for when it comes to cheap lists. These lists are often not updated regularly so you may find that contact or other information is not accurate. Our advice - simple lists and directories aren'y usually worth the money or the effort to use them.
4. Go to trade shows or scan trade publications. Drop shippers want your business. They are looking for you through matching services, directories, ads in trade publications and exhibits at trade shows. You'll never find each other if you're not looking in the right places.
5. You can use matching services such as eSources.co.uk. eSources offers buyers an opportunity to announce their need for a drop shipped product and for sellers to describe their products and their terms of sale.

Our advice is to use matching services such as ours (there are also good alternatives available, however watch out for cheap wholesale lists, they are not worth much at all). Here's why you should choose a matching service such as eSources.co.uk:

1. Suppliers are vetted, information is constantly updated and monitored.
2. You will find suppliers who may not be savvy enough to get their websites noticed by search engines but who have indicated they are looking for new business.
3. You can view drop shippers by accessing specific categories, such as our UK dropshippers and International Dropshippers categories. This way you can deal directly with those suppliers that are prepared to deal with you on a dropship basis.
4. You can announce your needs so that suppliers who can meet your needs will solicit you, creating a highly targeted group of supplier candidates to explore.

Once you have created a short list of candidates, begin the evaluation process.

Supplier Selection

Explore these issues as you go through your selection process.

Supplier Location

Although it would make sense to say that it should make no difference where the shipper is located, there are some issues to consider.

If your target market is in Canada, you may want to locate your suppliers in Canada since many shippers do not want to deal with the hassle of customs processing. (If your goods are low cost, they won't meet the threshold for customs declaration so this may not be an issue. However, it pays to sort out international delivery issues upfront.)

If you are having products shipped into the U.S. or any European Union country (and many others countries as well), those products must meet stringent standards for safety, etc. Be sure you know the rules that apply to your product. (You can learn all about importing by selecting one of our country-specific importing courses or our course on importing strategies.)

Company History, Reputation and Service

Ask about the history of the company. How long have they been in business? Google the business name plus complaints or reviews and see if there are any negative reports about them floating around on the Internet. If so, either move or at least ask the company to explain their side of the story.

Consider the professionalism of this staff. Are your questions answered in an informed and straightforward way?

Product quality

This is absolutely critical! Do you know that there are many ecommerce resellers who have never seen the product they sell? Don't rely on a picture or a description. Order a sample and be sure that the quality is up to your standards.

Price

What price will you pay for the item? Are there other charges that apply? Beware of suppliers that ask for a monthly "membership" or "participation" fee. These are often scammers. Legitimate drop shippers make their money on a per piece basis. There are a few exceptions to this rule, however generally you should stay away from dropshippers that charge a fee to join their dropshipping service.

Payment

Drop shippers work in one of two ways. Either they will bill your company credit card for each individual purchase or, in some cases, they will bill you on a monthly basis. If you can arrange monthly billing, you may be required to supply a letter of credit. In general, payment should not be an issue because you will collect payment from your customer before you place the order with the shipper.

Volume

Ask your supplier if they require a minimum volume of monthly sales to maintain an account. The minimum monthly quota should be a nominal amount; it should cover the administrative cost of carrying your account; nothing more. Be sure that you will be able to meet the quota.

Inventory

Ask about inventory levels and arrange for real-time inventory reporting so you can quickly advise your customers of any stock-outs or back order situations.

Shipping

Be sure that:

• The supplier uses a reputable transport firm such as UPS, FedEx or the postal service.
• Your shipments to your customers will always have a tracking number so they can be traced.
• The shipper will include the tracking number in their order confirmation.

Ask about the option of placing your name on merchandise or at least on the shipping package. There's great value in keeping the source of your products a secret from consumers; you don't want them to bypass you and go directly to the source (if that's possible). One of the hazards of tracking numbers is that the tracking number reveals the source of the product. You can handle this problem by referring to the shipping origin address as your remote warehouse location.

Refunds

Be sure you understand and can live with the drop shipper’s refund policy. You will need to make this policy clear to your customers. If you don't and there's a problem, you may find yourself underwriting refunds.

Avoid Scammers

We've touched on several of the red flags that may indicate a situation to avoid. They are worth repeating along with a few other cautions.

1. Avoid companies that want to sell you a list or directory of distributors at a low price; they're usually not worth it. Plus, everyone else will be buying those lists and accessing the same deals.
2. There are a number of legitimate, large scale drop ship companies that advertise a huge inventory of items to choose from. However, some of these maga dealers may simply represents products, essentially the same way you do. When you transmit your drop ship order, this middle man company transmits the order to the true supplier. The result? One more fee to increase the final selling price of your product. Ask your supplier candidate if they actually stock the products you will be purchasing in their own warehouses;
3. Beware of companies that offer you package deals with web presence, payment system, distributor lists, etc. These deals can be so costly that you will be hampered in making a profit.
   
   

How many distributors are too many?

The fewer suppliers you use, the better. More suppliers’ means more differences in shipping charges and return policies as well as more management responsibilities for you. Every business is different. Try to use the fewest suppliers possible to support your business needs.

What have you learned?

By the end of this section, you should know:

• How to locate possible suppliers for your products with the recommendation to use a matching service.
• How to evaluate suppliers.
• How to recognize red flags that can mean a problem supplier.
• That your best strategy is to work with fewer suppliers, if possible.
  
  

Terrific! In part 4 we will look at how to establish a relationship with the drop shipper and incorporate their products into your business.

To our success working together,

The eSources.co.uk Team
www.eSources.co.uk

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