Building eCommerce

By Mike Lane

There is no question that these days you cannot successfully run an Internet business, or in most cases any type of business, without an effective website. Most people, unless they are very knowledgeable about the intricacies of building websites, employ the services of professional website builder software, such as the highly rated XSitePro. The cost is definitely worth it when you are looking to have a website that portrays your business in the most effective way, and want it to be eye-catching and customer-friendly. The business owner needs the type of software that can help him or her build a website that will reflect exactly what he or she wants to portray, and what his or her customer need. There are basic steps involved in building an effective website, and good quality website builder software will help the business owner through each step so that the process can go smoothly.

1.General concept. At the very beginning of the website building process, the business owner should map out a plan, making an outline of what the general concept of the website should be. Before ever starting on the website, business owner should make specific notes about the website concept. Business owners should realize that the professional site builder software contains templates and ideas for building an effective website, and the software itself can probably contribute ideas that will enhance the website experience for everyone. However, the business owner is the one who knows what he or she wants to portray with the website, and how the website should work to enhance the business as a whole. Within this framework, the concept of the website will be determined, and the business owner, using the website builder software, can start the actual work.

2.Design. Things can get trickier when deciding on the actual website design. An effective website needs to reflect the business in its design, sometimes in a subtle way, and sometimes in a much more flashy way. A lot of this will depend on the type of business. If the business is selling children toys, the design of the website should probably be light and fun, with bright colors, whimsical graphics, and a fun text font, such as Comic Sans. A bookkeeping business website, on the other hand, should be portrayed in a more mature manner, with colors such as hunter green, gold, black and burnt orange, and a more serious font, such as Times New Roman or Arial. Though animation would work well on the children toy site, the bookkeeping business website would be better to have more serious graphics, such as office photographs or clip art that depicts a serious working environment. Everything from the title to the contact information must be considered in designing an effective website. The business owner can work with different possible design ideas, and then build a prototype before the website is published. This way, the business owner can decide on every aspect of the website design, and make necessary changes before actually launching the site.

3.Type of media used. Websites these days do not have to be just pictures and graphics. Different types of media can be used to make it a more effective site, such as video and sound. The business owner may wish to have an introduction on the first page of the business website; one that includes a video presentation. This can be very effective when trying to portray what a business does, and how it works with customers.

4.Search engine optimization. Good website builder software will help with search engine optimization, so that the business website can and will be seen by the right demographic. The best and most elaborate business website cannot be effective if it is never seen, and this makes search engine optimization one of the most important aspects of the website building process. Though the words that are contained within the website are up to the business owner, the website builder software can help by automatically examining the text content of the website to determine if specific optimization keywords are placed correctly, and in a number that will help give the website a good rating in the search engines.

5.Important details. An effective website has to include certain details in addition to design, graphics, and text. These details can often be overlooked when building a website without any help. These include such things as pop-ups, effectively linking, mail server details, contact information, and business marketing add-ons such as merchant accounts for accepting credit card payments on a website. Good website builder software includes these things so that no detail will be forgotten. XSitePro takes the business owner through every possible website detail, so that certain website details can be chosen and others rejected. The key is knowing what the choices are so that the website will be as effective as possible.

6.Changeability. Most business owners know that they cannot build a website and then never have to change it. The very nature of business means that a business website will need to be changed on a regular basis. With good site builder software, changing the website to meet the changing needs of a business can be done smoothly, without having to start from scratch. Customer bases change, new products are added and old products become obsolete, new announcements need to be featured on a regular basis. Building a website is never a one-time deal, it is an ongoing process, and effective site building software will be conducive to this.

About The Author

Mike Lane is involved in several online ventures and is the author of Website Builder

By Cliff Posey

Niche markets provide a product or service for a specific group of customers who have very specific needs. One of the biggest mistakes that new online business owners make is ignoring the concept of niche marketing and focusing on big markets that appear to be big moneymakers.

While this can be quite tempting, there is simply too much competition in the big markets. Those who are new to the online business world don’t stand a chance of competing against companies who have already cornered the market.

With niche marketing, it is a different story. Entrepreneurs can significantly increase their chances of success by focusing on specific niche markets. You determine a need and develop products and services that will satisfy that need.

Niche marketing also provides you with an opportunity to market to a very specific audience. By targeting your audience, you can easily tailor advertising and promotional campaigns that are almost guaranteed to work.

By now, you’re probably wondering how to go about finding niche markets. Fortunately, it’s much easier than one would think. The key is to find a group large enough to produce a reasonable volume of business, but small enough to be looked over by your competition.

The following steps will teach you the ins and outs of finding a niche market.

Step One
The first step involves research and may take some time on your part. If you need to, break these research sessions up over a span of a few days. This will ensure that you have ample time to properly research potential niche markets.

To start, open two Internet windows. Set one at www.google.com and set the other at http://inventory.overture.com.

Step Two
To find niche marketing opportunities, start doing a few searches in these search engines. Try basic products that you may be interested in selling, such as digital cameras, computer software, or Siamese cat toys.

By entering products into these two search engines, you can find out the number of searches the products have per month and determine how much competition exists in the market. Google and similar search engines will tell you how many results pages are out there for a specific search term, allowing you to gauge the extent of your competition, and http://inventory.overture.com will help you determine what sort of customer base you have be telling you how many people entered a specific search term in a given month.

Step Three
Analyze your findings. The level of competition that can be found in the market determines the best niche markets to get into. Though some competition is good, too much competition is bad. Niche marketing only works if there is demand and a market for the product or service that is being sold.

Though opinion varies when it comes to the numbers, in general, a word that has between 10,000 and 2,000,000 searches per month is considered an opportunity for niche marketing. Let’s see some examples:

Example 1
Digital Camera
The term yielded 1,312,659 searches and 239,000,000 results pages. This is a big market with plenty of competition.

Example 2
Computer Software
The term yielded 101,294 searches and 1,550,000,000 results pages. This is a big market with HUGE levels of competition.

Example 3
Siamese Cat
The term yielded 16,314 searches and 1,800,000 results pages. Niche marketing could work here! This has high search volume relative to competition.

Step Four
Choose your niche. Now that you have some niche markets to choose from, you can find the one that is the best fit for you. Afterwards, all that is left to do is enjoy your niche marketing experience.

About The Author

Cliff Posey, owner of CRP Marketing, owns and operates http://webbusinesstoolsonline.com. Cliff Posey has also operated several other successful web businesses including Love Song Cards and Radio Career Consultants. The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses.