Ecommerce, Fast!

Notes from a seminar I co-presented with virtual assistant and ecommerce specialist Terri Knapp-Aguirre.

Terri has worked in the technology field for 30 years, and for about the same time, I have been advising, cajoling and opening clients’ minds to technology advances as a part of their overall business health. While I myself am not a tech expert, I have searched and found great people who are. It’s what I do -- find and connect people to the resources thye need to move forward. I am blessed to have a great network that is always growing and evolving. It is my pleasure to connect you with another member of my braintrust.

First, the reason I felt it was so important for small business owners to consider the possibility of ecommerce is that I have been tracking the industry. While retail is down (with a few exceptions -- seeds, staples, accessories and Walmart), ecommerce has not experienced the same nosedive. The businesses I know who have started online sales have increased volume, while their bricks-and-mortar has not done as well. Ecommerce is keeping many afloat.

To give you an overview of the process, read Entrepreneur Press and Melissa Campanelli’s “Design and Launch an Online Boutique in a Week.” Click to order.

What you are hiring an ecommerce site designer to do is help you not only with the look of the site, but the mechanics of selecting a name, getting a url, selecting a host, a shopping card and a merchant account. Some hosts offer a turnkey with all the options worked out. Up front, you also need to plan for regular updates, monthly at least.

Terri recommends www.magento.com, www.zen.com, www.paypal.com, and www.profcs.com

Terri can get a simple site up in about a week for $1500, and do updates, for about $20 for 10 product changes. She uses templates, customizing them with your existing logo and graphics. You need to supply the images and copy, and she can advise and assist you with these as well if needed. She will give you a rundown on the hosting and other costs involved.

Ecommerce is not just for retailers, but for service businesses and B2B as well. A site for a consultancy focuses more on giving and selling information via tele-seminars, audio downloads, ebooks, books and video downloads. These are generally more expensive to set up, but are increasingly the norm.

Years ago, an entrepreneur needed a business card and a brochure, and then the ante got upped and you had to have a press kit, then a book, then a website, and now, yes, you should consider an ecommerce capability.

Two way affiliate programs are smart too. That is, you getting a percentage of sales from companies to whom you refer business, and vice versa, you giving a percentage of sales to companies who refer business to you. All this can be built into your site as a complete system. See: www.idevdirect.com, www.linkshare.com, www.jam.jrox.com, www.associateprograms.com, www.clickbooth.com, and www.cju.cj.com.

Caveat emptor: You need someone who is familiar with building these sites, as I have unfortunately found out. A lot of “web designers” are clueless about technology, and it is difficult to find out up front just how much they really know about the process. Most web designers are not hardcoders (the technical engineers actually building the site), and few know how to give a hardcoder good direction. That’s what Terri does.

Having specialized in ecommerce, she has a good sense of how expensive and complex a package you need to use, depending on how many items you want to sell. You don’t need all your inventory online to start, in fact, neither she nor I would advise you to start that way. Test. Start with even ten best-sellers or hard-to-find items, limited editions, and see what happens.

You can make corrections once you have taken an action, but you are in limbo with inaction. Given the success I am seeing with ecommerce, it is the number one investment I recommend for businesses right now. It can provide extra income now, and put you in a great, ready-to-roll position as the economy revives.

Do a small roll-up-your-sleeves launch announcing the site in your online newsletter and possibly with a postcard or letter mailing. Write your own press release or contact a few media people directly yourself.

Terri submits the site to all the major search engines as a part of start up, and puts metatags on each page with keywords. She will help you set up analytic reports through the shopping cart she selects.

So you’ve got the basics now, and you probably have questions. I hope the most pressing one is “How can I get started?” You can reach Terri directly at terrika@cox.net or teresa@theoverallassistant.com.