Doing business on the internet

This week, we were introduced to the ever so famous term: E-Commerce.. So what exactly is e-commerce??? Well, exactly like how it sounds, it is "the paperless exchange of goods or services through the use of electronic data transfer”.  In the current century, with technology improving and with the increased use of the internet, e-commerce is becoming more and more common for businesses who want to stay current.

Personally, i feel that e-commerce is like a double-edged sword. There are pros and cons to going online to do e-commerce..

 From the web link, http://www.nireland.com/e.commerce/Pros%20and%20Cons.htm, it gives a simple summary of the pros and cons for going into e-commerce.

Pro's and Con's for Businesses

Pro's	Con's
Should increase their market share	Hardware and software are essential and these are big
Enables them to access international markets	Distribution must be very efficient
After they have paid off their capital costs it should increase their productivity	Website site would have to be constantly updates.  Which leads to extra labour costs and training and retraining costs
Enable them to achieve greater economies of scale

Indeed, from my observation of different businesses that were set up online, those businesses that were able to make full use of the internet and were able to market themselves, are able to get the most out of e-commerce. Take for example, Apple. They are currently one of the world's leading mobile devices company.. After watching their video for their latest product I-Pad, im shocked to know that they had just sold their 250 millionth ipod!! And this is partially thanks to their apple website which is easy to use and allows consumers to pick up a product that they like just with a few simple clicks.

This begs the question..in order for your e-commerce to succeed, e-marketing is very important and therefore, how do you make it a success??

According to this website (http://www.emarketingmatador.com/the-4-pillars-of-internet-marketing-success), it states that there are 4 different pillars that are crucial to e-marketing:

1) Good website Design

By having a good website design, it considers what information is presented where and how it is presented. Good Web Design can place focus of the user better, but its primary role is to answer the immediate questions, and get them where they and you both want them to go.

Example of a GOOD website:

• It has a clean look
  
• Appropriate links for users to click on depending on what they want to find out
• THUMBS UP FOR THIS SITE!!! :D
  

Example of a BAD website:

• Links are terribly small, are users supposed to squint their eyes to look for the right links to click!?!?!? Ridiculous!! :(:(
  
• Colors of the background are very jarring and distracting!! :( HORRENDOUS!!
• THUMBS DOWN!! BOO!!! By the time any user finds the correct link, i guarantee you that any person looking at this website will have a SPLITTING HEADACHE (like i did!!!) :S
  

2) Good website Coding

Sites with image map and java script drop down menus miss out on being more attractive to search engines and the result is less inbound traffic from the search engines. This would result in users not being able to find the site!!! Thus, it is crucial that website coding is done well.

3) Drive Relevant Visits

To drive relevant traffic, a business needs to know it audience, where they are online and how to best engage them.  For instance, if you know your audience is interested in "home decorating", are women between the ages of 30 and 60 and reside in the Metro Denver area ( in the case of Windows Dressed Up ), then you could target them with Pay per Click, Online Advertising, Social Media Ads and a few other tactics that allow you to target by demographics and geography.

4) Maximising Conversion Rates

There are 7 simple steps as listed below:

1. Make it easy – Don’t have too many steps to achieve something.  Registration for example should only collect essential info.
2. Keep it simple – Don’t overwhelm people with too many options.
3. Relevant Offerings – If someone is seeking information about cooking, don’t try to push lawn equipment on them.
4. Good Placement – Make offers
5. Clear Calls To Action – Don’t have a button that says "submit".  Make the button have meaning like "Book your package today".
6. If possible, offer things that are unique and valuable, preferably both.
7. Have special or free offer your site audience would really want.  See #6 above.   This is related to nurturing business and something we’ll go into at a later date.

If most e-commerce business were to take into consideration the above few factors, i do believe that any website would be one step closer to becoming an e-commerce website that will succeed.. :)