The Ultimate Guide To Create A Succesful Online Business
The Ultimate Guide To Create A Succesful Online Business
The Ultimate Guide To Create A Succesful Online Business
EPIC GUIDE TO
CREATE A SUCCESFUL
ONLINE BUSINESS
By Catalin Zorzini
Copyright 2013 Catalin Zorzini. All rights reserved
ecommerce-platforms.com Web
@ecomplatforms Twitter
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Table of content
Introduction 5
Make an amazing first impression 10
Why photos matter 14
Improve your site’s navigation 17
Have a unique idea 21
Craft a strong USP (Unique Selling Proposition) 25
Start blogging 28
Create a mind blowing About Us page 31
Develop a succesful SEO strategy 37
Target the right visitor with the right product 41
Use Live Chat to help potential customers make a decision faster 43
To coupon or not 46
Improve shopping cart experience 49
Develop a successful shipping strategy 53
Ask for feedback 61
Rethink your newsletter approach 65
Show people your site is secure and trustworthy 68
Use the power of Social Media to promote yourself 72
Implement an Affiliate Program for your store 76
Don’t neglect mobile users 80
Choose the perfect ecommerce platform for your store 84
Conclusion 97
1 Introduction
I’m a web design blogger and started this project after spending a few
weeks struggling to find out which is the best ecommerce platform
for myself. Now I roam the web and the ecommerce world so you
don't have to. Feel free to get in touch; you can ask me anything.
Catalin Zorzini
And while it’s generally true that competition is always good for the
buyer/consumer, there is also a downside attached to this in that too
many choices can often lead to confusion. Right!?
After years of research and tons of reviews, I've listed below the best,
free and cheap tools & resources I recommend to friends, family and
readers interested to prepare for, build, and grow their online shop:
A. PREPARE
C. GROW
A first impression can last for years, so invest in the best design
possible, choose the right template and deliver a unique experience
for your users.
In a totally different niche, Minted has a very fancy and colorful look.
They almost always use decor to accompany their products, thus
making them Pinterest friendly. If they also offered product zoom,
everything would have been perfect. This way it’s a bit challenging to
see the small design details and this is a huge downside.
For 75% of them the quality of the photos is the most important
feature.
It’s beyond annoying to shop around for something and to decide you
want to revisit a product you saw a few clicks backs, but finding it isn’t
that easy. The user has options: use the back button, navigate to that
category again or check the browsing history.
John Lewis and Amazon are two websites using this to their
advantage. The navigation process is a lot smoother and it requires
fewer clicks, thus making your visitors happy and less stressed.
However, you have to be absolutely sure that your website won’t
have to face the dreaded hover tunnels issues – when you have to
follow a certain path so the menu won’t close. A great strategy is to
make the menu open on click, thus ensuring that all your customers
can navigate easily.
Trendhunter
Trendwatching
Trends Now
1
NOTCOT
The Cool Hunter
SpringWise
#
If you want to know more about site navigation, check this study.
it shows exactly how menus have changed between 2011 and 2014
for 23 websites.
Every business has that “something” that sets it apart from others,
you just have to sit down and figure what it is. Another option is to do
your own research and look closer at your competitors. What are they
focusing on? What are they missing? Could you bring that to your
customers?
FiftyThree designed a very cool stylus and their USP is simple: “Think
with your hands”. In just four words their customers find out what
these guys are selling: a pen that works so smooth that allows you to
be extremely creative.
Don’t know where to start with your own UPS? Sam Horn, author of
the popular book “POP!: Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and
Tagline for Anything” developed this W9 questionnaire to help you
break down the core of your business and craft the perfect USP:
Publish often!
Ideally, you would have around 3-4 new articles published each week,
but not everyone has that much free time so start slow. You can come
up with at least one article a week, right? If possible, you can consider
drafting 5-7 posts and schedule them so you don’t have to deal with
blogging for the next 5-7 weeks.
Hershel Supply and Selfridges publish quite often on their blog and
the articles are short and have pictures worthy of their own Pinterest
board. This strategy works best in niches relying heavily on design
and visual cues visual cues.
ABOUT US
Optimize the product page. This means using keywords but not to the
extent where you end up overstuffing your content. Relevant product
keywords in your headers and image alt tags should be enough to
help your rankings.
Make the most of user generated content. This isn’t costing you
anything and it also provides fresh and unique content for search
engines. Add social media plugins and allow users to quickly review
the products they just bought.
Keep pages with out of stock items. Don’t delete these pages,
especially if you rank high with them; instead, show related products
or your newest collection.
Link to other sites. Despite random rumors you might have heard,
linking won’t ruin your rankings. Instead, it will show the visitors that
you want to provide helpful content and you don’t mind linking to
those sources. This will paint you as genuine and reliable.
They also have a related product featured to keep the user engaged
and why not, increase the chances of an up-sell.
The slider with products viewed by customers that viewed the same
item has the same purpose.
Zappos uses the keyword in the title, with very little something else
always include the brand or collection as well, it helps your rankings.
The guys at Moz put together an awesome guide with SEO tactics to
Love vs Leave. Browse the slides and update your SEO strategy.
Around 70% of online shoppers prefer stores that use personal infor-
mation to provide a more relevant shopping experience. Bottom line,
any ecommerce site that wants to stay in the game has to come up
with a personalized shopping experience for its customers.
After the “Don’t do this” example we have Lexus and Romwe, two
very different sites that have good chat strategy. The buttons are
placed right and also highlighted to ensure maximum visibility. This is
proof that in almost all niches users need help in choosing the right
product, whether a new car or a new pair of jeans.
Place your live chat button in the most visible spot. You want it to be
visible at all times, whether the user is scrolling or reading a product
review.
31% of online shoppers are tempted to buy from a site that offers live
chat.
46% think this is the perfect communication medium.
62% of buyers that have used live chat are more likely to buy again
from the same website.
Around 75% of mobile platforms buyers use coupons which can lead
to a huge loss if you have year-round promotions and most of your
visitors come from mobile devices.
SAVE S AVE
SAVE
SAVE
Jo Malone decided to go for a busy look and this makes the offer code
box less noticeable. That’s a great strategy, as customers can’t
complain you don’t offer discounts. However, not everybody will be
aware of the fact that they can actually use them, and most will skip
this step.
These discounts will benefit your brand and also show customer
appreciation:
Use your checkout page as the last up-sell option.The Body Shop
displays their best offer on this page to catch those undecided
customers who don’t know if they should pay or continue shopping.
Think smart, but avoid cramming it with a ton of products.
73% of your customers are likely to look for free shipping options.
High shipping costs account for around 44% of abandoned carts and
only 6% due to slow shipping.
Free shipping
We’re all bargain hunters and the phrase “Free shipping” instantly
makes you want to keep on scrolling, even if you weren’t tempted to
buy anything. Analyse your costs and if you can afford to offer it, then
go ahead. This works best in the clothing, beauty products or acces-
sories niches as in most cases the packages are small or average
sized. Free shipping is the most important factor now and it also
encourages customer loyalty, so choose wisely.
FREE
SHIPPING
Next to free delivery, this is the second best thing. It’s a very popular
option seen on big websites like ASOS, The Hut or Free People and
can increase your orders exponentially.
A hassle free method, this allows you to offer a flat fee for every order.
Daniella Draper uses this strategy and before proceeding to billing
customers can see the shipping rates and then decide if they want to
complete the order or not.
I bet KUTOA makes some delicious bars, but I don’t know if they have
a very successful shipping strategy. You can find the shipping rate
only by filling all the fields, which is both time consuming and
unnecessary if you end up finding those prices too big.
Simple Sugars uses a calculator that allows you to know the exact
shipping costs without having to click to checkout. This increases
your transparency and makes customers feel that they have control
over their shipping fees.
The second reason for revisiting a store is free shipping, fast shipping
being ranked number 14.
Consumers are 82% more likely to use a store if they don’t have to
pay for shipping.
You can increase your order value by 30% if you have free shipping.
All these numbers and statistics apply to the whole web. You might
have positive reviews on your site, but you also have to check what
your customers say about you on other blogs and forums. Are they
satisfied? If not, contact them and see what should have been different.
You have to keep in mind that people used Google to find your site and
they’ll use it again to do a “background” check on your product.
Not only that, but reviews also improve your SEO rankings as they
provide fresh and unique content, increasing your long tail rankings
and bringing in new visitors.
WE WANT YOUR
FEEDBACK
Just Bedding relied on Usabilla, a tool that lets visitors share their
feedback both for products or certain aspects of the site. A huge
downside is the fact that potential customers can’t see the actual
feedback left by others, they can only submit theirs.
GraceShip made the reviews visible when you click on the Testimoni-
als tab placed in the left side. Transparent and very easy to browse
through.
You shouldn’t, 68% of consumers trust a site more when they see
both positive and negative reviews and this is normal. No matter how
awesome your product/service is, there’s always that one guy who
didn’t like it. Also, if someone is searching for bad reviews, it means
he’s already considering buying, but he wants to find out more.
67% of consumers say they read up to 6 reviews until they feel they
can trust a certain business.
Check the following approaches and see how you can successfully
convince visitors to sign up for your special deals and updates.
Lookmatic, ACK Surf and Little Joe Woman greet you with a
newsletter popup when you land on their websites. Easy to get rid of,
but visible for those who want to get exclusive offers or new products
announcements. To increase your chances of getting new
subscribers, lure them in, sell your mailing list like ACK Surf does:
“Best mailing list out there. Exclusive focus on beaches, babes, beers,
and new products.”
Cultivated Wit shows they have a more upbeat attitude and this is
obvious when you scroll down and get to the newsletter signup field.
The “Receive our propaganda” line is funny and tempting, it feels like
you just have to sign up. If you look left, where they have the social
button, you chuckle again as you read “Monitor our private lives.” It’s
all about being fresh and knowing your audience.
These 7 both paid and free tools will help you develop an effective
social strategy, from helping you figure out when it’s the best time to
post, to identifying the latest trends you should focus on.
Lookmatic too uses more visible social buttons to increase the chanc-
es of customers actually seeing those buttons. The full page layout
makes the visitor focus on their pair of glasses. Very few other
details, not to distract him.
-Choose a platform.
-Make the ‘Terms and Conditions’ very clear.
-Decide the commission structure.
-Use decent thresholds.
-Choose a payment method.
-Provide the tools – banners, statistics, tracking, free shipping
discounts etc.
-Target the right affiliates.
SIGN UP
LOV E
THE SITE
Last year only 4.5% of the Top 500 internet retailers had a
responsive website.
Free trial so you can give it a go without having to pay for a whole
month.
High class themes, probably some of the best ecommerce themes out
there.
More than 100 apps and addons to further customize your store.
One thing that keeps people away from Shopify is their fees, from
0.5% on their most expensive plan to 2.0% for the cheapest one.
Highlights:
This platform was designed by the genius guys from Woothemes and
it’s the go to system if you’re a hardcore WordPress fan. It does the
job and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg, You might read my
WooCommerce vs Shopify comparison.
Highlights:
60+ payment options so you can choose the one that fits your store
best.
With over $16 billion in sales, this platform has been around since
1999 and in Internet years this is like forever. One of the biggest
shopping cart systems to date, Volusion has its ups and downs, just
like any other system.
Sometimes their servers decide to crash and burn so your store will be
offline all this time.
Figuring the perfect system is quite tough, so the best advice you
could hear right now is to get started. Buy a domain, choose a
platform and start selling. You won’t make a profit just by thinking
about opening the ecommerce store you’ve always wanted, you have
to take the first step.
And remember:
If you found any value in this book, please write a quick review on your
website/blog, tell your friends to grab it, or let your social media
followers know how they might like it too:
Stay awesome,
Catalin Zorzini.