Search engine optimization

Planning for e-commerce Introduction

E-commerce plays an increasingly important role in the way in which products and services are purchased.

E-commerce systems such as your website can be used to market and sell to customers, and to provide after-sales support. E-commerce can also be an important part of strengthening relationships and improving the efficiency of your dealings with suppliers and other key trading partners.

This guide looks at the key issues to consider when planning for the introduction of e-commerce. It provides advice on how best to identify the opportunities for e-commerce within your business and the solutions available. It also emphasizes the need to plan for the ongoing development and maintenance of any e-commerce system at the outset.

Create an online shop Introduction

Selling products and services online can have major advantages for businesses, leading to increased profitability and lower costs.

This guide tells you about the advantages of selling online, what you need to consider when creating an online shop and the consequences of getting it wrong. If you choose to work with a third party to build your online shop, this guide will help ensure you ask them the right questions.

The guide also explains some legal requirements and the pitfalls that you should be aware of, as well as how to make sure that customers can find your shop on the web.

  Accepting online payments Introduction

For many small businesses, accepting payments online provides some major benefits. Customers increasingly expect this facility and it can improve your cash flow significantly.

It's easy to accept cheques or invoices for your online sales and to process payments in the traditional way. However, because buyers often use the internet for a speedy service, most sales are paid for with credit and debit cards. To accept cards online, you will have to make special banking arrangements.

Online payments using cards are 'card-not-present' or CNP transactions. There are higher risks of fraud with this type of payment and banks require you to operate within a well-defined set of rules and accept a higher level of commercial risk than a conventional swiped card transaction in a shop.

This guide will help you to understand these requirements and look at the options available for taking advantage of online payments.

Fulfilling customer orders Introduction

Once a customer purchases a product from your website, you need to ensure delivery in a timely and efficient manner. For some items such as music and software, customers can download the product directly to their computer. However, as more businesses look to sell physical products via the web, there is also a need for delivery to customers' doorsteps.

The solution is an effective fulfilment service capable of handling all of the stages from processing the order to delivery.

For products requiring physical delivery, a large portion of the cost of selling online can be attributed to fulfilling the customer's order. The effectiveness of your fulfilment process can therefore have a major impact upon the profitability of your operation.

This guide describes the various options for delivering both physical and digital products to your customers and provides guidance on how to ensure that you meet their expectations.

            E-commerce and the law Introduction

E-commerce is all about selling goods and services via the internet. The trader and customer are not face to face at any point, with business conducted remotely, regardless of location. This can pose a number of challenges to the formation and enforcement of contracts.

A number of legislative initiatives affect business conducted online - they can be complex and change regularly.

As far as e-commerce transactions are concerned, the legislation is primarily intended to ensure that online contracts are legally binding.

The ways in which electronic marketing can be undertaken to promote the services of e-commerce providers are also regulated.

This guide introduces you to the various regulations and provides practical advice on how to ensure that you comply with your legal requirements. However, it is not a substitute for professional legal advice.

Develop an e-marketing plan Introduction

E-marketing means using digital technologies to help sell your goods or services. These technologies are a valuable complement to traditional marketing methods whatever the size of your company or your business model.

The basics of marketing remain the same - creating a strategy to deliver the right messages to the right people. What has changed is the number of options you have. Though businesses will continue to make use of traditional marketing methods, such as advertising, direct mail and PR, e-marketing adds a whole new element to the marketing mix. Many businesses are producing great results with e-marketing and its flexible and cost-effective nature makes it particularly suitable for small businesses.

This guide describes how to develop an e-marketing plan and provides guidance on implementing that plan and monitoring its effectiveness.

      Generate business from your e-marketing plan Introduction

The overall objective of any marketing initiative is to help sell your goods or services. Used successfully, e-marketing can enhance customer relationships and increase your business' profitability.

Your e-marketing plan needs to consider which techniques to adopt in order to attract potential customers to your e-commerce website and keep them coming back.

There are a variety of different approaches that you can take, and your e-marketing plan will usually include a mix of different strategies that are best suited to help you meet your overall objectives. Some of these will be innovative, while others will be automated versions of traditional marketing techniques.

This guide provides an introduction to the e-marketing techniques most commonly used by small businesses.

Search engine optimization (SEO) Introduction

Increasingly customers are searching online to find products and services they require. Statistics show that most users now access websites via search engines rather than the web address. To ensure that your website is appearing prominently in the natural listings, ie the free listing on a results page, you can do certain things. Search engine optimization (SEO) helps tune website content to improve visibility.

Search engine visibility is the key to online success. Search queries bring interested users directly to a website or service. However, the vast majority of those using search engines will not go beyond the first page of results. The higher you rank in a search engine's index, the more visible you will be. This means more visitors, who can be turned into customers.

This guide will show you how search engines work, how to submit your website for listing and provide practical advice on how to improve your SEO. It also advises on unacceptable techniques that can damage page ranking.

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