Starting An E Commerce Site ~ Tips?

Hi folks,

I am in the process of starting an e-commerce retail site and wanted to know if any you have tips for a beginner.

Very limited knowledge and budget.

Thinking of Volusion Hosting.

Have names of some SEO's and am reading my way through this.

PPC sounds very good, but I am afraid it will wipe me out in the beginning.

Attractive design and Optimization tips would be great too.

I already have the domains, a Wordpress blog, FB and Twitter up and running to link when I go Live

Just wondering, and using every resource I can find.

Thanks ~ Timewalker

Originally posted by timewalker
I am in the process of starting an e-commerce retail site and wanted to know if any you have tips for a beginner.

I read a few years back that people often visit a new site a few times before they eventually make a purchase. That is, they dont buy the very first time they visit. Soo... one way to improve sales is apparently to make the site "sticky", which supposedly means give people a reason to come back and visit (or not want to leave).

Product reviews, advice columns, handy hints and tips etc...

reply to post by timewalker


Take a look at some of the free resources available before you consider purchasing a solution. Here is a recent list of available free solutions:

Free eCommerce

And here is link to an open source eCommerce community where community members will help you put your own store front on the web.

osCommerce

Best regards,
Z

Be cautious with PPC , don’t try to promote everything you plan on selling or you will wipe out your budget in hours and achieve nothing.
Try to pick 3 or 4 lines that you have a good margin on and little competition (there are tools on Google to check out the search demand and amount of results for your product searches when you plan on using PPC with them)
We have done well out of PPC but only by being very careful with it and spending the time planning and researching the correct products

Also - as the previous poster mentioned try to go down the open sourch route .... you can get some fantastic results with a little time and effort (and no, or very little outlay).

In my experience SEO is very expensive to do externally (or at least to have done correctly ... you get what you pay for) - you can also expect this to take upto 12 months before you see any results depending on your business. - can be a bottomless pit for cash if you dont go about it the right way.

Good Luck.

Without going into detail, what product are you marketing, ?

The latest eCommerce site that we created is www.madabouttoys.co.uk...

We do everything for you, but obviously we charge.

Feel free to PM me or email me email removed if you need any help/advise.

Originally posted by scottlpool2003
The latest eCommerce site that we created is www.madabouttoys.co.uk...

We do everything for you, but obviously we charge.

Feel free to PM me or email me if you need any help/advise.

Last thing i would like to read on here is someone requesting help and someone else imposing a fee. Given that i am not allowed to move otherwise i would seriously act otherwise on such a post without any hesitation.

Sir/Madam, the individual is requesting help, obviously he or she is not going to earn billions so why attempt to obtain a financial gain on an otherwise startup site.....and ppl name black hats as evil...

Originally posted by lovetoeat

Originally posted by scottlpool2003
The latest eCommerce site that we created is www.madabouttoys.co.uk...

We do everything for you, but obviously we charge.

Feel free to PM me or email me if you need any help/advise.

Last thing i would like to read on here is someone requesting help and someone else imposing a fee. Given that i am not allowed to move otherwise i would seriously act otherwise on such a post without any hesitation.

Sir/Madam, the individual is requesting help, obviously he or she is not going to earn billions so why attempt to obtain a financial gain on an otherwise startup site.....and ppl name black hats as evil...

Maybe I didn't explain the "Feel free to PM me or email me if you need any help/advise." part of my post.

SEO is not as mysterious as some would have you believe--particularly those trying to sell you SEO services. It's a learnable skill and you don't need special education or resources to accomplish a lot.

Also, beginners are usually inclined to try to "buy" their way into e-commerce. If you have a small budget (and who doesn't?) try the free sources mentioned by earlier posters.

There's a "learning curve," true; but don't be daunted by it and don't give up too soon as you encounter what seem at first like mind-numbing complexities....

reply to post by Ex_CT2


That's brilliant advise. It is a long, hard and daunting process for many people, but the hard work really does pay off in the end.

With eCommerce websites, it's always useful to sit down, analyse who you are and what you are selling. Then research your competitors and see how they are generating business. Once you know what your competitors are doing, follow their process only, this time, improve it! Add your own variations to whatever they are doing.

Websites is trial and error, some things work, some things don't.

As for SEO, be careful if you're paying someone to manage your SEO and don't ever enter into a contract with somebody for SEO. There's too many scams out there who will contract you, do very little work and you're stuck with them for the duration of your contract.

Do some research on the following subjects:

Onpage SEO
This is optimizing the website for SEO such as creating link/image titles, keyword density, nofollow outbound links etc.

Offpage SEO
Generating backlinks, Google Adwords, Paid advertising etc.

Originally posted by scottlpool2003

Originally posted by lovetoeat

Originally posted by scottlpool2003
The latest eCommerce site that we created is www.madabouttoys.co.uk...

We do everything for you, but obviously we charge.

Feel free to PM me or email me if you need any help/advise.

Last thing i would like to read on here is someone requesting help and someone else imposing a fee. Given that i am not allowed to move otherwise i would seriously act otherwise on such a post without any hesitation.

Sir/Madam, the individual is requesting help, obviously he or she is not going to earn billions so why attempt to obtain a financial gain on an otherwise startup site.....and ppl name black hats as evil...

Maybe I didn't explain the "Feel free to PM me or email me [email protected] if you need any help/advise." part of my post.

"we do everything for you but we charge"

Sure i understood that...

However for start up's its something we promote regardless of product that is,unless its a conglomerate. if so, then we take appropriate action and it always gets nasty. Our point is, to promote, help, advise, if and when it becomes successful that's when we come into contact. It is something we have as an internal business plan well over decade and highly successful as trust is they key factor here and only through a candid interaction can both or multiple individuals benefit.

p.s. i here to help and not hinder

reply to post by lovetoeat


Jog on.

Read my post above, I'll always help people out, but I won't work for free.

I'll advise and give tips for free, of course I will.

Originally posted by scottlpool2003
reply to post by lovetoeat

 

Jog on.

Read my post above, I'll always help people out, but I won't work for free.
:-)
I'll advise and give tips for free, of course I will.

Indeed...refreshing the site was slow and was not due to my connection but rather the sites response time, So i totally understand what you replied. :-)

reply to post by alfa1

I have picked this up. The blog is for that purpose specifically. I understand organic results improve dramatically with "research" type information. Articles, tips, tricks, wiki links and extended use of keywords and such.

Luckily I have honed some writing skills here at ATS over the years.

Originally posted by DrZrD
reply to post by timewalker

 

Take a look at some of the free resources available before you consider purchasing a solution. Here is a recent list of available free solutions:

Free eCommerce

And here is link to an open source eCommerce community where community members will help you put your own store front on the web.

osCommerce

Best regards,
Z

Thanks for the links. I will have to dig into them more.

I will definitely have to do merchant services, maybe through Paypal Payments Pro. I understand they have a pretty good and very price reasonable solution.

Not at first, but inventory management will be a concern later on down the road too.

So this is why I am looking into the payed hosting services, room to grow without a total revamp down the road.

reply to post by lovetoeat
Fixed Blade weapons, display and practical. Swords, daggers,machete's and all things related that won't fold or fit in your pocket.

Guy's chime in now!

I may do some resource books, and possibly some survival and camping gear. (I don't want a flea market, but want to hit the ground running and move some small stuff too,

ATS ADMIN how much do you charge for advertising for established and respected members?



A couple of competitors:

Kult Of Athena

Swords.com

reply to post by scottlpool2003
I am definitely looking into AdWords already, a great resource. Using Google Analytics on competitors.

Probably will use some Comparison Shopping services too. Shopzilla etc...

Aurion is the SEO. I have family that has a knife store (no compete) and was given some of their service leads.

I really did not expect so much response so quick. Thanks everybody!

Originally posted by timewalker
reply to post by scottlpool2003

 

I am definitely looking into AdWords already, a great resource. Using Google Analytics on competitors.

Probably will use some Comparison Shopping services too. Shopzilla etc...

Aurion is the SEO. I have family that has a knife store (no compete) and was given some of their service leads.

I really did not expect so much response so quick. Thanks everybody!

Sadly i cannot reply via u2u, but simply send your email to me via u2u and ill email you some links you should have running when you switch on your computer to look upon your competitors. Its not one or two links but a merger of multiple tools that all add up to obtain that extra edge.

P.S.

Have been doing this for so long, i have no need to worry about what you are trying to obtain. ..hope that makes everything clear.

reply to post by lovetoeat

That was pretty detailed what I am going to do. Does not bother me. Really can't explain that without direct knowing of what it is, or worse, being misinterpreted.

You are all a valuable knowledge base. I knew something positive would come out of it.

Thanks again. I will be checking this thread for a while I can tell.

Originally posted by timewalker
reply to post by lovetoeat

 

That was pretty detailed what I am going to do. Does not bother me. Really can't explain that without direct knowing of what it is, or worse, being misinterpreted.

You are all a valuable knowledge base. I knew something positive would come out of it.

Thanks again. I will be checking this thread for a while I can tell.

ou

Word of advice...place a piece of paper accompanied with a pen, note down your interests and then begin to form your pyramid of knowledge. Sadly the majority overlook the fundamentals of what it is they are doing or trying to accomplish simply due to the mas consumption of input that in the end...is more than likely trash...!