Recessions Stink! Money is tight for just about everybody right now. When it costs you almost double what it used to cost you, just to fill up your car with gas… it is only natural to make spending cuts in other areas of your life. There are many reports of people not spending the way they were spending even a few months ago. The retail industry is hurting, and I think we are going to see this really cutting into web based sales as well. If you are a website owner that relies on selling products, do you have a plan in place to help you get through the hard times?

Here are a few tips to help you get through this recession…

1)Cut back on advertising spending- You won’t usually hear me recommend advertising cutbacks, but this can really help save you some money in the short term. Keep any saved money in your advertising budget for when the economy turns around, and there are buyers ready to spend money. Don’t use your advertising money elsewhere unless you have no other choice. I recommend holding back advertising dollars to spend when consumers are ready to buy.

2)Reduce any website maintenance charges- If you are paying a firm to make updates and maintain on your site, see if they can reduce your monthly fees for less service in return. Now is a good time to see about reducing any monthly charges that may go unused. I recommend really streamlining your books and seeing where any money is being spent for little in return.

3)Offer Special Deals- No matter how bad the economy may be, there are still buyers out there. You may need to search harder to find them, or just offer a deal they cannot resist. Try coupons, free shipping, or throw in some extra products for them. By making this customer happy you are now able to convert a sale into a long lasting customer. Also, people who get a smoking deal are more likely to tell their friends and family.

4)Plan for the future- Now is a great time to plan for the future. You probably have a little more free time now then you did back when business was booming. Take any downtime you have to create a plan for when sales pick back up again. Maybe not is the time to plan a site redesign. You will be a step ahead of your competition if you already have a “after recession” plan ready to go. Make sure your books, inventory, staff is standing by for when this recession is coming to an end. Don’t cut resources until you cant afford to pay them anymore. Just remember, things will get back to normal after this recession runs it course.

5) Try to Gain Free Publicity and Brand Recognition- Use the free resources out there to try and gain brand recognition, even if they don’t generate immediate sales. Sites such as Craigslist and Backpage are free, and can help drive brand recognition. Post on these sites regularly. Also try to get listed on as many directories as possible. Also reach out to possible business partners to share links. Slow times can be great times to help build your SEO strategy. The work you put in now will pay off big time when the recession is over and money is ready to be spent.

Try some of these tips and the recession will be over before you know it. Good Luck!

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It’s no doubt we all have busy schedules and our days fill up before we know it. If you’re running a business, you know exactly what I mean. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done so why do we constantly try to add more to our routines? If you and your business needs website help and you’ve been putting it off, it’s now time to move away from the procrastination and move on with your website project. There’s no excuse to wait any longer.

Many business owners think they can handle creating a website on their own. They think they can read a book or look over a website tutorial and they will be good to go. I will tell you that if you do put the time and effort into it, yes…you can develop and code your own website. But, in the meantime you will neglect other areas of your business that should be your main focus while you are trying to learn the ins and outs of website development and marketing.

I’m a true believer in focusing on what you are good at and outsource or contract out what you are not experienced in or lack a skill set. Ultimately this will save you money. You might cringe at the cost of a website but by not having a website up and running for your business, you are losing out on a TON of potential profits by simply not having a web presence.

You have to look at a website as an essential investment for your business. It’s a piece of the puzzle that you must have in order to fully succeed and take advantage of all markets available. It’s like your employer offering a 401K with dollar for dollar match but you don’t take advantage of it. My question is, WHY aren’t you taking advantage of it? If you invest in a website for your business, it will pay off exponentially over the course of your business run. When it comes down to it, a website is cheap related to other advertising mediums such as print media, radio and TV. You can invest a couple thousand dollars into a nice website and some website marketing and it will pay off for years and years to come.

Get Website Help now and take your business to the next level. I can guarantee that your competitors are.

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If you have a product or service that you’d like to sell online, then an ecommerce website is exactly what you need. Ecommerce websites can range from fairly simple to very complex depending on what functionality you want and how many products or services you are offering. We are going to take a look at exactly what you need to get an ecommerce website up and running.

1.) You need a product or service.
Without a product or service to sell online, you are dead in the water. Don’t even create a website if you have no idea what you will sell on it. Ideally, the product or service that you intend to sell should be something that interests you. If you don’t believe in the product or service you are marketing online, then others won’t either. Make sure you have a vested interest in the product or service before you go any further.

Product Research Estimated Cost: $0 (if you have a product) - $1,000

2.) You need a domain name.
Once you have your product or service, you should pick a domain name. This domain name will be the address to your website. You can pick a keyword rich domain name or a brandable domain name. Whatever you choose, this will be the face of your website so choose wisely as it’s hard to change a domain name once it’s been running on a website for awhile. Check out GoDaddy.com for available domain names that suit your ecommerce website.

Domain Name Estimated Cost: $9.00 - $50.00

3.) You need a website and shopping cart software.
Once you get your domain name, you will need to create a website that has shopping cart software integrated into it. This can be done in a variety of ways depending on what functionality you’d like for your site and how simple or complex you want it to be. The website is what will display your business information and your shopping cart will allow you to accept payments via the web. There are all kinds of shopping cart packages, many that are free. A great free option is Zen Cart.

Website & Shopping Cart Estimated Cost: $1,000 - $100,000+ (obviously this is a complex one!)

4.) You need a web hosting account.
A web hosting account holds your website files. This is where you will make any changes to your website and this is where your domain will point to. A web hosting account is what allows your website to be viewable by website traffic. There are many types of hosting accounts but a basic one will do to start. You can always upgrade at a later time when your website grows or you can even purchase your own servers to host your website. This is for the advanced website owner and not really in the scope of a new website.

Web Hosting Estimated Cost: $5 - $25/month

5.) You need a merchant account.
If you plan to accept credit card payments over the web, you will need some sort of a merchant account. Per Wikipedia, a merchant account is, “a specialized bank account issued by a merchant processing bank that allows a business to accept credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard, debit cards, gift cards and other forms of payment cards. This acceptance is also known as payment processing, credit card processing or merchant card processing.” There are many different merchant accounts to choose from so do your due diligence and research various types to find the right merchant account for your website. Some charge higher fees than others so be careful what you sign up for and make sure to get a list of the exact charges before signing any agreements. If you pay too high of fees, this will cut directly into your profit margin and a bunch of little charges eventually add up and make a huge difference. You can also choose merchant accounts that only take web orders or you can get a combo merchant account where you can take web orders or get a hand held to punch in orders yourself. You can determine the best solution for your business.

An alternative to a merchant account is PayPal. There are various PayPal accounts and this allows you to set up credit card processing as well. The downside is that you have less control over the look and feel of the payment processing section of your website and you will have to direct your traffic to PayPal to complete the purchase. Regular merchant accounts are seamless and the website user remains on your site at all times while completing transactions or purchases.

Merchant Account Estimated Cost: $100 - $1,000/initial setup fees plus monthly fees based on transactions

6.) You need a gateway account.
You need a payment gateway to process the transaction. The gateway is essentially a middleman that authorizes the transaction and gets the money into the merchant bank account. Per Wikipedia, a payment gateway is, “an e-commerce application service provider service that authorizes payments for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar. It is the equivalent of a physical point of sale terminal located in most retail outlets. Payment gateways encrypt sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, to ensure that information passes securely between the customer and the merchant.” A popular payment gateway solution is Authorize.net. If you use PayPay, you will not need a payment gateway solution. This is only if you have your own merchant account and are processing transactions within your website.

Payment Gateway Estimated Cost: $100+ to set up and monthly transaction fees

7.) You need (or should definitely get) an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate.
If you are processing transactions on your website, you will want to get an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate for providing secure transactions. These can be purchased through companies such as GoDaddy.com.

SSL Estimated Cost: $20 - $1,000/annually - basic ecommerce site will be around $100/annually

8.) You need a web marketing plan.
How will you market your website? Word of mouth? Pay per click campaign? Search engine optimization? Print media advertising? You need a plan to get the word out on your products or services. This is a good time to talk with a web marketing agency to figure out the best way to go about marketing your new website.

Estimated Web Marketing Costs: $0 - $10K+/month - depends on how creative you get.

9.) You need patience.
This might be the most important thing you need when launching an ecommerce website. People assume that they can create a few products, throw up a website and the sales will come pouring in. This is SO far from true. You will be sadly disappointed if these are your expectations. Be realistic. You will have to try many things before one will stick. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t quit. Keep trying different things and one day one of them will work and you will see your business grow.

Estimated Cost of Patience: Priceless

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After several years of being an avid eBay shopper, I have had my first bad experience with the online auction mall. Don’t get me wrong, I am still a very big fan of eBay, but I have learned a few lessons that I figured I would share with this online audience. (Before venting I’d like to go on record and say that eBay/Paypal/Terrible Seller were efficient at settling the disputed charges, so I will continue to shop on eBay)

Andy’s eBay Shopping Tips…

1) If it looks to good to be true, it always is. If Best Buy is selling a product for $100, and you find it on eBay for $40 bucks… something just isn’t right. That product is either going to be a counterfeit, grey market (item that ends up in non-authorized distribution networks), or broken. You are much better off forking up the extra money if you are unsure what you may be receiving.

2) If the seller is from outside the US, pay attention. Not that I’m saying all products being shipped from China are counterfeit, but many of them are. eBay tries to shut down counterfeit products, but it is impossible to rid their auctions of them all. I also want to make clear that I firmly believe some counterfeit products are fantastic. In fact I bought a counterfeit Baltimore Ravens jersey over a year ago for $30 that could pass for the $100 variety at NFL.com. The counterfeit products I recommend steering clear of are the consumer electronics. These have a high tendency to break, not be compatible with other products you might have, or will not fit the description of the product you expected to receive.

3) If a Seller goes un-registered after you buy the product, dispute charges asap. This is what has recently happened to me after I purchased a product online. I waited several weeks hoping the product would show up in my mailbox with no luck. I even emailed the seller many times to see what the deal was. After 3 weeks of no response and no package, I disputed the charges. I now know to cancel an order right away, and I suggest you do the same if this happens to you.

4) A sellers feedback is Crucial. If a seller does not have near perfect feedback, I suggest you stay away. If a seller has sold hundreds of products and only had one or two bad comments then you should be ok. If you notice negative trends in their feedback such as a misleading product or very slow shipping then be weary of the seller. You may even want to google the Sellers ID name to see if anybody has written negative comments on them in the past. This tip has steered me clear of a few shady sellers in the past.

I know as a buyer I am very lenient with my feedback. It would take a VERY negative experience to convince me to leave a negative comment. For every negative mark against a seller there is a VERY unhappy buyer somewhere that would recommend you buy from somebody else.

5) Buy from sellers that have an established track record. This generally means over 100 sales if they are an online store. Less is ok, but you should not feel as confident in the pit of your stomach if they only have a few sales on their record.

Follow these very basic tips and you will become a much smarter online shopper.

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