The promo strip is a must in Ecommerce sites

The promo strip has crept onto most of the UK’s largest eCommerce sites in recent years. It’s been a slow burner. It’s almost standard practice for high street eSellers and yet remains rare on smaller eCommerce sites. It works well for both customer (an instant, relevant, visual upfront) and the brand (subtly encouraging conversion).
A promo strip appears under the top navigation of a site to promote key messages or current promotions – in many ways it’s a visual summary of the whole website. There are key benefits. They appear on every page no matter where you land on the site. No matter the type of devise, the visitor will see it immediately and almost everyone sees it wherever they are looking on the site.
They are a simple addition to highlight features to all your eStore visitors. If you don’t have one, it’s worth testing. 

Succeeding in E-commerce

Things are never easy for a small-business owner. No matter how hard you try, there will always be hurdles to jumpand fires to put out. At least you can take comfort in knowing you're not alone. Every small-business owner goes through the same thing. The primary challenge as a small business is having access to capital in order to facilitate our exposure for example through marketing and to a larger extent, trying to identify who the buyers are.
 Launching an e-commerce store involves much more than simply setting up a website with a shopping cart. Driving real traffic to an e-commerce site takes serious marketing and follow through. Most E-stores close down after barely six months of operation after the owners realize  that the ride is not as smooth as anticipated. For that reason, if you are thinking of taking your store online, consider doing the following;

1. Invest your time– For your own e-commerce business to be successful, time is your biggest investment. The more time you put in to your business, the greater the chances are of succeeding. However, an e-commerce business can also benefit you if you only invest a short amount of hours in it, as long as your time is being spent effectively. 
2. Find a platform that is attentive to your needs- When sourcing for your site's host, get one that has an attentive and passionate customer support team as this can save you loads of time.
3. Keep reliable sources of information- While running a business, store owners tend to encounter unpredicted challenges. It’s important that once you face a challenge, you have a knowledge base filled with information that helps you overcome it.
4. Dream – Convey your dreams through your store design. Technology today barely limits your design aspiration. When choosing a store design template, let loose, but also ensure that it corresponds to your products.
5. Strategies to generate traffic- Once their store is up and running, owners must start attracting customers to their businesses. Therefore, the platform you choose to work with has to have suitable marketing tools (Facebook Store, eBay & Amazon Integration, Price Comparison sites integration, Coupon Distribution, etc.) 
6. Analyze and optimize – For a business to grow, its weaknesses must be translated into strengths. Future store owners should guarantee their business has the tools and integration capabilities for a thorough analysis of their operation. Thereafter, adjust and optimize their actions consequently.

I wish you all the best in your business. Feel free to ask questions through the comment box or my email address if you like.

ECOMMERCE: Building a shopping cart for your E-Store

I think some of the greatest advantages that you get to reap from selling your stuff online are that you will not need to pay the local rates for operating a brick and mortar store, neither will you need a license. As long as you have a computer and good internet connection, you are good to go. Another one is the possibility of getting colossal returns due to the larger market you get online. Your opportunities will soar from than selling to your local town dwellers, to selling to millions of people worldwide-that is if you consider exploring the overseas market. Your success will depend on your efforts, both in marketing and most importantly, being appealing to your customers. In this post, I will help you create an appealing E-store by looking at the options you have in getting a shopping cart for your site. A shopping cart will prove vital for your E-business as it may be the difference of making profits or not selling anything at all. Think about your local supermarket, would you not be able to buy the stuff you need if they didn’t have shopping baskets and carts? Of course you would, but would be an experience you would always dread. The baskets are thus meant to make your shopping enjoyable and the same should apply to your E-store. An E-commerce shopping cart is a software that compares to the shopping baskets in a traditional store and allows shoppers to select everything they want to buy while adding them to the basket until they are ready to ‘check out’. At this point, they can then pay for a total sum of their purchase. Shopping carts vary greatly in functionality, flexibility, ease of use and cost. It is up to you to choose one that suits your needs. Before making your choice, it is important to know that;

1.A cheap shopping cart will require more input from you while the ready to use ones will require you to chuck more money. It is therefore important that you strike a balance between cost and usability.

2.It is important to choose a flexible software so that if you happen to expand your business with time, you will still be able to use it. For example, if you decide to start shipping abroad, then your software will need to have the ability to calculate differing currency rates and taxes for your overseas customers, failure to which they might end up leaving your store without making a purchase.

3.A good software needs to have an easy checkout process. Customers, in most cases, get frustrated by slow or unclear checkout processes. Make sure that your shopping cart does the following;
           •Displays meaningful error messages if shopper information is incorrectly put.
           •Makes it easy for customers to select and amend orders
           •Has the minimum possible steps required to make a purchase and clearly indicates the shopper’s progress

 4.A shopping cart’s file( eg. .php, .xml etc) should be compatible with your web host 

5.It should be able to automatically generate delivery cost, stock availability, shipping details, order confirmation and tracking.

Finally, I would advice technical beginners to start with the ready to use shopping carts or seek the services of a professional web designer for templates that need customization.

How to secure your E-business from hackers and fraudsters

This post will prove important to those of you that run e-businesses. It gives tips on how to prevent your website or blogs from hackers and fraudsters. As we all know, it is the duty of every merchant to safeguard the personal details of their clients.

1. Use Encryption technology. 

This is a basic e-commerce technology that allows you to "encode" or scramble data into an unreadable form to ensure privacy.

There are two kinds of encryption:

"Symetrical" or "Secret Key" which uses a single key to encrypt and decrypt messages.

"Asymmetrical" also called "Private Key" which uses one key to encrypt and another to decrypt.

Use secure pages when processing orders and payments. Secure means data is encrypted during transit. If it's unencrypted, hackers will be able to intercept the data (such as credit card info) and use it. 

You can get free encryption software at;

Encryption software free

If you do not trust freeware, get one from Kaspersky.

You can also check comparative prices of encryption softwares.

2.Use Authenticated SSL Certificates/digital certificates.

These are digitally signed documents which bind the public key to the identity of the private key owner.

 To put this in place, you must apply with a reputable third-party that provides SSL authentication. They will review your application, background and business ethics. If they find your company is legal and genuine, they will issue you the certificate. A visitor to your site will then have the assurance that you are what you claim to be.

To read more on digital certificate, follow this link.
3. Out-source for Anti-fraud Solutions. 

There are ecommerce technology companies that offer fraud protection services.Various payment systems may come with these.
4. Familiarize and Comply with Merchant Security Standards. 

No matter what commerce technology you use, be sure you comply with security standards. Credit card companies will hold an Internet merchant responsible for fraud if it happens. So get to know the requirements of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard and follow them. Non-compliance is heavily penalized. 

Anti-fraud software

For tips on shopping online click here.