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  Why Online Stores Fail and 10 Steps to Keep You from Joining Them     It is all too often that a person will dive into the world of online commerce, with ambitions of becoming a coffee shop millionaire right after they get their store front up. They spend days, weeks, maybe even months putting together a nice store front with plenty of products, only to find out that they were doomed for failure from the beginning, because they forgot to take some important steps before they got started.   The steps these merchants didn't realize they needed to take, are so simple and effective, that we wanted to make sure that you have them now, so that you don't have to worry about following in the footsteps of failed businesses.   Step 1. Perform Regular Market Research   Market research empowers you with knowledge about the products you're going to sell and the people who will buy them. That research will tell you just about everything you need to know before you set up your digital store front. It will show you how much demand there really is for your product, and dispell any myths you might have about any products being infinitely popular because of their usefulness or a strong need for them.    Market research will also help you understand who your competitors and supporters are, what forms of advertising will be most effective for you and where you can find your ideal customers. These are all essential details that every business needs to have in order to succeed, and yet it is one of the most commonly ignored steps during the birth of an online business.   Step 2. Procure Popular Products   Along with everything above, and then some, market research will also help you quickly take care of another essential task: Making sure you you source products that are popular, but that are not over-sold in the market. Make sure you source products that are not over-saturated, that are high quality and do everything you say they are going to do. Needless to say, don’t try to sell products there’s virtually no demand for just because you think it’s sooo coool.   Step 3. Prepare for Long-Term Marketing Costs   In this step it's especially important that you plan ahead. Yes, you want to give special significance to your initial budget for marketing, though where many business fail is not in doing their initial budgeting preparation, it's actually in not preparing for consistently marketing through the life of their business.   Not preparing for regular marketing, means you'll be doing business in the dark and that is no way to achieve success. Make sure that you take the time to check out all the forms of marketing and advertising available to you and create a plan that covers your long term marketing costs every month.   Step 4. Create Authentic / Unique Content   Many business fail because they neglected to create unique content for their products or for their website in general. It's very easy to cut and paste a description from the manufacturer, onto your own website, especially in the beginning. Though doing this not only looks bad to your customers, it actually works against you in terms of SEO. Search engines look down their noses at webpages with inauthentic content and it will not take long for your digital store front to draw up those red flags, making it more difficult for you to create a better impression of your website on search engines later on.   Step 5. Use Clear and Relevant Images   Every image on your page should be attractive, crisp and relevant to your niche. Make sure that most of your pictures are actual pictures of the products you're selling, as many customers will turn away from doing business with you if they cannot find pictures that will help them see what they will be getting, even if you can offer them a more fantastic deal than anyone else can. Another biggie is to use real human models when selling apparel, NO DUMMIES.   Step 6. Design a Simple and Effective Website   Many online business fail because they either spend too much time working on their websites design, or because they spend too little time doing so. It's important to achieve the right balance, which you can do by learning more about what design elements are important.    Step 7. Prepare for Customer Service   It is not so simple any more, to jump on the internet and create an online business, especially when it comes to store fronts. There are templates, products and CRM systems that just about anyone can afford and understand how to set up. It's so simple, that many people jump online dreaming of being successful, that they actually do it. The only problem is that they did not expect as much success as they received, and that resulted in an unexpected cycle of rapid growth that crushed their business endeavors because they were not prepared to deal with all of their new and returning customers appropriately.   You too, are likely to experience several rapid cycles of growth, as all successful business do on a regular basis. Knowing this, it's important that you take the time to consider what sort of needs your customers might have as your company grows. And when a customer has a concern, foreseen or not, how will they reach you and how will you overcome those challenges? When your customers needs become more than you can handle alone, will you hire on a small customer service department or outsource your customer service needs to an online agency? Think about all this in detail and create 2-3 potential plans of action you can take as your customer service needs grow, so that you can avoid being pegged as yet another online business with bad customer service structures.   Step 8. Produce Clear Policies   Something that will help you with a majority of your customer service needs, is making sure that you have clear and easily accessible policies available on your website. You want to make sure that every customer who comes to your website, knows what your terms of service are, where they can go if they have a complaint or a question, and what they should do if they would like to return a product or receive a refund on a service they purchased.   Step 9. Price Your Products Competitively   With the internet at their fingertips, it's extremely easy for any customer who comes across your website, to do a quick price check through their favorite search engine and compare what you're offering to others who are offering just about the same thing. From there, they will make their final decision about who they will purchase from and if you want to be the business, make sure your products are neither the cheapest, nor the most expensive.    Use your market research to decide what that price should be specifically. Often a mid priced product from a more reputable provider will get the sale, not just the cheapest.   Step 10. Get Metrics Educated   Ecommerce Metrics and Insights are the gateway to understanding what happens on your online store everyday. They tell you what kind of people are visiting you, where they've come from, what it cost to aquire them, what they do when they get to your store, and how much revenue they bring on average. Using metrics will help you understand how much genuine traffic you're bringing in, how to convert more of that traffic and how you can adapt your store to the needs of it's visitors.     Most of all, keep in mind that 'traffic' is just one way of labeling your customers, the people who fund your income. They are and always will be the most important part of your business, as without them, your business will fail. Use the above steps to make sure they receive everything they expect from your online store and then some.   

Design has a vital place in the structure of any online business or organisations store front, though most experts would certainly agree that it is not the most important element in the whole process. Craigslist.org is a fantastic example of this. Their design is one of the simplest you can find, and yet they are one of the most popular website browsed by global users today.   Wikipedia is another fantastic example, as they are only a few steps more complex than craigslist, which isn't saying much. in fact, the biggest noticeable difference seems to be an image based logo! The design is all about content, and getting it to people as easily and as quickly as possible.    There is a very good reason why simple sites like these, get so just as much or more traffic than websites with fancy cosmetic storefronts. It's a simple equation really:   Content = Traffic In July 2012, one of our clients (who wanted to remain anonymous) decided to do a content push for their online store after six months of trading. Their search related traffic was fairly steady until early August when a serious boost occured and never stopped. Their stats graph was more than impressive as shown below in actual numbers. Content came from biweekly blog posts about their products and popular related topics they found online, as well as an archive about how to use their products or how to get the best from them.   In the world of SEO, your graphics have very little to do with your ability to bring in traffic. You do want your website to look professional and to be easy to use, though it is much more important to focus on the basic fundamentals of a strong ecommerce store: - Providing detailed product descriptions - Using consistent font sizes and colors - Creating an attractive landing page - Encouraging genuine peer reviews (You can activate the built in reviews and questions feature for this) - Compiling engaging content (The blog is perfect for this. Don't forget to send out a weekly newsletter showcasing your latest blog posts) - Having a working website without broken links Having a beautiful, attractive and modern website is definitely important, as it can help you engage new visitors to your website. While many business owners understand this, a lack of experience with ecommerce websites can leave them without the knowledge that design will take you nowhere without the fundamentals in place first. Things like making sure your logo is aligned correctly, or having any cross-browser issues taken care of, are vital to the welfare of your storefront. Anyone can have a fancy website, but if firefox users are the only ones who can use your website, your business will be in trouble.   You're also looking at some extra challenges if your landing page doesn't give readers a reason to click through, as your visitors won't just give themselves a reason. The same can be said if some other simple thing isn't take care of, like having clear images throughout your website, with appropriate resolutions and sizes. One of our previously mentioned popular stores does a great job in showcasing their products. Note the thumbnails are all the same size, same style, clean and clear. http://lilysflorist.com.au/c/4291709/1/arrangements.html   All in all, one truth can be uttered when it comes to your design priorities: Content and Simplicity should always come first.   Once you've got your cornerstones in place, it will be easier to work on the cosmetic designs and improvements and you'll save yourself some money too, as many designers charge more if your website starts out as a mess.

In the world of Search Engine Optimisation, it's vital to understand the common myth's and assumptions that can sometimes lead businesses and marketers off track. By solving the mystery of SEO Myth's, you have an opportunity to put yourself ahead of most of your competition and give your customers a better chance to find you online. 1. Social Media Marketing (SMM) Will Bring More Traffic FALSE   This myth has many businesses up in arms because they are not seeing the ROI that they thought they would get from their social media marketing campaigns. Part of this is poor communication on the part of the social marketers, and the rest is a misunderstanding of how Social Media Marketing (SMM), can increase your profits and make your PPC campaigns more powerful.   The truth is that while SMM might increase your return rates from customers who already found your business through search engines, it will not increase your genuine traffic, which would be the new prospects finding your website.   What SMM will actually do for your business, is help you convert the traffic you are already attracting, into loyal customers and referrals. That's what social media networking and marketing is all about - Community Building, not traffic generation. 2. Directory Linking Doesn't Work (not true, only spammy automated submissions don't work) FALSE   Actually, submitting your business to directories, is one of the most powerful search engine optimisation methods available, and one of the longest running SEO tactics. Online directories are already using their own PPC campaigns and SEO methods, which can boost your rank in search engines and bring you more authentic traffic.   That being said, just as there is always some truth to every rumor, there is a little bit of truth to this myth. The truth in it, is that there are definitely ways to turn directory linking into an anti-seo tool. In fact, one of the most common mistakes that businesses and marketers make when it comes to directory listing, is that they set up automated submissions that are essentially just poorly written sales copies that get repeated every so often. If that is a method you're using, then it is definitely not working for you, and it is in fact working against you in terms of positive search engine traffic. 3. Meta Tags Matter (with exception) TRUE   There have been many myth's floating around throughout the years, about Meta Tags and whether or not they are a meaningful part of the SEO process.   The truth is that since Google Penguin, Meta Tags matter more than ever. That includes your Meta Description and Meta Title. Every search engine today uses those meta tags to help searcher's find you, and if you don't have them filled out at all, most popular search engines will place you lower than the people who just place a bunch of random spammy meta tags on their website. Apart from news websites, don’t bother with the keyword meta tags at all, See Matt Cutts Video on this topic below,  

1. Set Your Goals BEFORE You Start Marketing No matter what aspect of your business you're working on, your intentions and goals are the most important place to start. Without designing your businesses goals, you'll be walking into everything with a blindfold on. PPC is no different.   If you don't have an intention clearly in mind before you start your campaign, then you're not going to be able to measure the effectiveness of your campaign, regardless of how many tools you have to "measure" everything. So before you get started, sit down and ask yourself some questions like:   What specifically do I wish to gain from this PPC campaign?   How will I know when I have achieved my goals or received the benefits I wanted from my PPC campaign?   What other marketing methods am I going to use to compliment my PPC campaign? And why?   2. Set Up Website Analytics Before You Start Your Campaign Most of us don't think about getting analytics for our websites until we realise we are bringing in plenty of traffic, yet we still aren't seeing any meaningful sales conversions.   This would be fine if the birth of your campaign wasn't one of the most important elements to the future of your online business success. Sure, you can get by without knowing what happened in the beginning, though it's much more effective if you do it right the first time.   That way you will get to see exactly what originally attracted people to your website, how they found you and what obvious mistakes you can turn into future opportunities. This information will help you craft the best PPC campaign you can have, because it will tell you exactly what is and is not working about your sales funnel.   3. Don't Go With Automatic Bidding When it comes to PPC, most campaign management software will offer you the opportunity to use automatic bidding, which allows the software to place your ads anywhere for any price. This is an okay method for seasoned businesses to use, though if you're looking to save money on your PPC campaigns, then you won't want to use the automatic bidding option.   Instead, use the option for a budget cap in your campaign, that will allow you to mark the maximum you want to spend per day on your campaign. Using this option will make the software more picky about where it places your ads, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially when you understand how to use the right keywords to control who sees your ads.   4. Let Go of Your Need to Be in the "1st Position" The 1st position of any search engine, is considered the best piece of digital real estate a person can have. This thought isn't necessarily wrong, though being "1st" in the SEO world, doesn't always equate to a company, service or product being the "best".    In fact, because search engines make it very apparent that advertisers paid to be in those top spots, those ads get ignored much more often than the links in the 4th, 5th or 6th positions on a search engine. So by giving up your need to be first, you can save yourself the thousands of dollars it will cost you to get there, and your links will appear more authentic and humble in comparison to those clearly paid for ads at the top of the page. 5. Make Sure Your Landing Page is Optimised for Conversions Your landing page is essentially the bottom of your website sales funnel. It is the place where most visitors start their journey through your website, and it is the most vital element in converting those viewers into customers.   This is why it's so important to make sure your landing page is optimised to send your viewers through a specific process. Once visitors reach your landing page, you don't want to just leave them to their own devices. Instead, you want to show them specific options for actions they can take, such as visiting your blog, watching a video, signing up for a newsletter, browsing your products or learning more about your services.   By optimising your landing page before you start your PPC campaign, you'll find you get a much great ROI, than if you had just allowed fate to roll the dice for you.

  Turn the Latest Trend into Money A new catch phrase, pulled from a song, accurately defines market research. “10 percent luck, 20 percent skill, 15 percent concentrated power of will.” Now, the odds are good that the musician merely parroted something heard from a marketing department, but what is real in the brick-and-mortar world is real in cyberspace. New Trends New trends do not start as ‘trends.’ They become trends when savvy business people recognize a growing demand for a product and make it easy for customers to buy. The first step is to find a new trend. The ecommerce world is ripe with opportunities to beat the competition to the next trend. But, that is not where the gold mines are found. Lisa Suttora, CEO of WhatDoISell.com said: “To find clues to new trends, you need to get out in the world and begin looking and listening in order to learn what people are thinking and doing,”Suttora said. “It’s a process of gathering clues to new niches and putting together pieces of the puzzle. It’s about connecting the dots to things. You start seeing opportunities everywhere." Open Your Eyes and Ears One anecdote comes to mind. A millionaire said he found a must-have product when a friend’s wife ruined his coffee.  She poured milk into his mug, but the hole in the bag was jagged, spilling the milk.  He returned home and made a prototype razorblade holder that cut a tiny strip from the corner of a milk bag. He had no marketing expertise or business experience. He blindly followed the two fundamental rules of wealth building, feed a need, and cater to the lowest denominator.  Within months there was a milk bag opener in almost every house in America. Look for problems and find solution. Keep a notebook of ideas. It may take several months before everything comes together into a viable plan for success. There are some areas where ideas abound. They include tradeshows, trade magazines, organizations, catalogues, newspapers, social magazines, entertainment, and the world around you. There is always a product that can be improved, made easier, or could serve the consumer better. Ideas sometimes present themselves when you are least looking. One flea market vendor watched a child blowing marshmallows out of a piece of plumbing pipe. Only a vendor who spent eight months out of the year at flea markets recognized the value in that. He sold the invention and retired in eight months. The toy is now manufactured in China and has become a mainstay with flea market vendors. Evaluate Products The best way to evaluate products is to make a copy and put it in the hands of a consumer. There are always ways to conduct market research that do not include target groups, expensive research reports, or focus groups.  However, releasing a product too soon can be disastrous. It is better to do a little research and find out what consumers like and dislike about the product. The man who invented the milk bag opener didn’t make millions by introducing a razor blade to the kitchen.  It is feasible that many women already used a razor for that purpose. What this man did was make a child proof version that stuck to the fridge so it wouldn’t get lost.  This man solved a problem. He may have released a small knife, even a child proof one.  It was the addition of the magnet that made it a success.  Finding a product is only half the battle. Improving it may mean the difference between riding a trend wave, or taking control and turning it into millions of dollars. 

Google Analytics E-commerce tracking has just been launched today. With this feature you will be able to track detailed information about the orders placed in your website and be able to measure the ROI of your marketing spend better.   In order to start seeing your sales on Google Analytics all you need to do is to enable google analytics from the Google Analytics Admin Panel. Here's how; 1. Click the Admin tab at the top right of any screen in Analytics. If you are not already on the account administration screen, click the 'All Accounts' link at the top left, just below the menu bar. 2. Click the name of the account and then the name of the property that has the profile you want to enable Ecommerce Tracking for. If you have a lot of accounts or properties, use the drop down search box in the top left of the menu bar and type to search. 3. Use the 'Profile' drop down menu to select the profile you want. 4. Click the 'Profile Settings' tab. 5. Under the E-Commerce Settings section, select 'Yes, an E-Commerce Site/App'. 6. Click 'Apply'. Here's some recommended reading on Google Analytics E-commerce tracking to get you up to speed; Google Analytics E-commerce Tracking Why Everyone Should Use It - Justin Cutroni The Benefits of Using Google Analytics for Ecommerce Tracking - shoppingcart.com Note: E-commerce reports will only be tracked after the time you enable e-commerce tracking. It's not possibe to retreive the past transaction data.  If you have any questions or comments please let us know in the comments, Enjoy, 

Early this week, Ashop launched version 3.6. With it came a range of new features that merchants have been eagerly awaiting. If you'd like to learn more about how to use and where to find these new improvements, you've cliked to the right page. Variants can be associated with product images. Think of this as option swatches on steroids. Previously you could only upload a range of product images and a range of variants/options, but the two could never be linked, now they can. From your product edit page you will see a new column called "picture" on the variants table. On each variants row you have an "add" link which, if clicked, will allow you to select from a range of thumbnail images corresponding to your products main uploaded images. On your storefront, this means that when a customer selects a variant, the associated image will then suddenly appear. It can also be clicked on to view larger, just like your main product image. This is a fantastic feature that I'm sure a majority of clients will use. It's simply a clearer way to make sure your customers see exactly what they're buying. To learn more click here   Variants can be displayed as radio buttons Variants can now be displayed in two ways on your storefront. As a drop down menu or as radio button options. There are also two ways of managing this option. You can select the default option for each variant group from the "Variant Templates" page, or, you can edit each variant group directly from the individual product that you would like to change.   To edit from the product page, scroll down to your variant table and select from the drop down menu directly for each variant group. Product back in stock notification This option manages whether or not customers will see a new field to enter their email address to be notified when a product comes back in stock. If active (from storefront settings), this feature will automatically appear once a product's stock level reaches 0 or is manually set to 'out of stock'.    You can also manage the text under the language file for both the storefront view and the email that is sent to your customers. The email will automatically be sent to any email address that was entered to this field as soon as you enter any stock value back in to the product edit page.   Whilst the 'Notify when product is back in stock' setting is a global store setting, it will only work if the element have been added to your product detail page design. This is because each store design is different and the feature can effect the page layout. See example of element on product detail page page design below.   Display stock levels Last but not least, we've added a new design element to display the actual stock levels remaining for each product. You can add this to your product detail page design editor. We hope the new features come in handy and certainly improve your sales as always.

At this point, most of us have spent money on the internet. Unfortunately, some of us have been the victims of online fraud as well. To the users who lack due diligence the internet is full of piracy laden pitfalls that can hoodwink shoppers out of their hard earned money. This being the case, online credibility isn’t just an admirable quality, it’s also a beneficial commodity. Your ecommerce site has got to look as secure as it actually is, and if it’s not secure, it certainly should be. If you can’t make your site the least bit believable, then your conversion rates are going to suffer. The number one way to defend against suspicions of online fraud and to build credibility is to add some security measures and an internet security certificate to your site. What are Online Security Measures? Security measures really are an essentiality for any ecommerce site. You’ve got to be able to provide a protected path to purchasing for any customer that wanders into your online store. That means enlisting a lot of different services to guard your site, the vital processes that must be maintained, and customer data as well. There are online security measures that every ecommerce entrepreneur should have in place: Redundant firewall protection- Think of it as reinforcing the gates to your online kingdom. Web application protection- Web apps are simply another entrance to your ecommerce resources. Leave no door unguarded. DoS/DDoS mitigation- protection against a massive influx of information requests. This type of security breach has been made famous by the many attacks against private and public websites alike perpetrated by hactivist group: Anonymous. SSL VPN (Secure Sockets Layer virtual private network) - An encrypted security network which guards the interactions between two endpoints. Vulnerability management- Checking for chinks in your network’s armor. Antivirus protection- Self-explanatory, no? Two factor authentication- Multiple methods of identifying a user as a human being and not a malicious program and/or an unauthorized user. Encrypted backup- a secured copy of all the data equipped on a specific device. These are just some basic barriers between your site’s backend and those who would exploit it. You should be certain that each of these is addressed in full before ever going live on an ecommerce project. Shared SSL vs. Private This is an extremely important part of security and credibility, so it’s worth hitting upon in a little bit greater depth. VPN’s are like the roads between your site and a user’s device. Thus they need to be secure. A shared SSL (Secured Socket Layer) certificate is less expensive, but also less credible than a private one. This is because a shared SSL will force a customer to a third party site for the completion of every order. In other words, you’re pushing a customer off of your site to gain a conversion. It sounds a bit counter intuitive doesn’t it? Like you’re taking one step forward and two steps back. A private SSL cuts out the middle man and provides your users with the ability to buy directly from you. This is the preferable method because it speaks to your site’s capabilities, and implies a greater level of credibility and professionalism. Show Them Your Badge   Your customers are coming to you because you’re a trusted source of information and assumably a reliable online retailer. You don’t want to sully that impression, but more importantly you don’t want to make it easy for any parasitic thieves out there to leech off your customer’s money. Your customers certainly don’t want this either, and will demand certain signs of your trustworthiness. These signs come in the form of internet security certificates you can display around your site. This is the point at which security and design intersect. You want to prominently display your security badge, without taking away from the aesthetic appeal of your site as a whole. The best thing about these badges is that they are clickable. You can clickthrough these banners and check up on the references for a site’s security. That way a customer can easily ascertain whether or not your site’s online security measures are truly legitimate. Protect Yourself Your customers aren’t the only ones who should be worried about security. Unfortunately, there are plenty of cyber criminals chomping at the bit to rip you off. Adding highly visible security measures will not only promote your site’s credibility, but it will also protect your own sense of safety. Kind of like how you might put a “Beware of Dog” sign in your yard. Just the threat of security is often enough to avoid any security issues. Internet fraud is rampant and putting some online security measures in place will virtually eliminate the threat. Unfortunately, completely preventing online fraud is a lot of work. You have to track user behavior, put up multiple levels of identity verification, monitor traffic origins, and much more. This is why, despite the impact on credibility, many small businesses still outsource their online payments to larger companies like PayPal. Even though they lose some credibility, they save a lot in man hours and still avoid the majority of online fraudulence. What Kind of Results Should I expect? The results of adding security badges, (along with their implied online security measures) are well documented and very promising. Depending on where you display the online security certificate, and how it interacts with the rest of your site’s design, you can expect an increase in your conversion rate anywhere from 1 to 15 percent total. In rare cases these badges can improve product performance by even greater margins. A good tip as far as visual appeal is to keep the badge within the directional flow of a reader’s attention. For example, a visitor reads left to right and top to bottom. So the top left, directly under your site’s logo is a good spot for your internet security certificate. At the end of the day you need to feel secure in your browsing, it’s bad enough that apparently every government in the world has access to your online habits, you don’t need an illegal third party harrying your ecommerce purchases as well. The best way to accomplish these ends is to protect your site with online security measures, and cash in on the added credibility with a prominently displayed online security certificate.  

When you’re an ecommerce business, you’re either evolving and growing, or dying. So in the spirit of evolution, the Ashop team decided we need a revamp. Our website is stage one and then we'll start to undergo the giant task of your admin panel look and feel. The Ashop websites are divided into three main countries; US, UK and AU. We’ve already started with the release of our Aussie website www.ashop.com.au with a NEW LOGO, NEW DESIGN and NEW MASCOT (Ash).     Why the change Typically every two years, website design trends make a noticeable change. Not only the button styles but the way content is delivered. These new developments usually all aim toward easier and clearer understanding by visitors. Ashop’s new colour palette was user tested three times over before the final one was selected. The logo now looks like an actual cart; where previously people kept asking what that symbol was. Ash the robot was introduced to keep a continuous design flow through both our website but also all marketing aspects and community channels. Why Ash the Robot When you’re an online business, it’s often a challenge to portray your company’s true personality and the benefits it has for your customers. We decided a bunch of pictures like peoples smiling faces was boring and kitsch, so we designed our own mascot. Ash gives each page a personality and gives us the opportunity to show readers the fun and innovative side of Ashop. How did all this help Well, just making a design and mascot doesn’t help, it’s what you do afterward that makes the difference. Our engineers have integrated a reporting system to analyse traffic data and develop metrics that tell us where a visitor comes from, goes to and maybe when they drop off. We then provide simple surveys on pages they generally leave from to ask what they might be looking for or dislike. This feedback and traffic analysis helps us identify the pages needing work most and ways we can improve them to help conversions. Admitingly, this is only the tip of the iceburg, but it's the most relavent to ecommerce stores like yours. On top of this we use a usability testing company where anonymous visitors are given simple tasks to follow on your website. It’s all captured on real-time screen casting with audio so the tester can explain their thoughts and suggestions as they browse through your site. These testers are your only source of true feedback and provide visual understanding of what’s going wrong and generally how you can fix it. Ashop made approximately 25 changes and 15 add ons or improvements to the site. In the end, the last group of testers were very impressed. Especially when compared to our competition. Naturally it’s not all 100% your way, but you simply can’t and shouldn’t be everything to everyone. Trial conversions are now up by 15% within one week and we're currently waiting on sale conversion results. We’d love to hear your feedback below.

What might have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago, the idea of selling goods or services directly from social sites such as Facebook has taken off in a big way. But while many e-commerce site owners are worried that this new phenomenon may cut into their profits, the opposite can actually be true.   The old saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" may just be the tonic that e-commerce site owners need to hear. Instead of trying to compete with the likes of Facebook, it is far better to join forces and mount a serious attack on their markets. Recent reports speculate that e-commerce done via Facebook could account to as much as 6.1% of the entire UK e-commerce market by 2015. This could represent a huge untapped market waiting to be exploited.   The additional online sales load is there for the taking for anyone who wants to make full use of Facebook as an adjunct to their existing e-commerce site. It's simply a case of getting in on the action before someone else comes along to take that slice of the business for themselves.   Setting up a social commerce page on Facebook is relatively simple to do and can make a big impact on sales, while also driving traffic to the core e-commerce website. Success depends to some extent on the nature of the business and the product or service being sold. In other words, what you sell and how you sell it can result in varying levels of success for your business.   The key to making a success of a social commerce page is by designing it for a different kind of traffic that you'd normally expect to land on your e-commerce site. Social pages attract social traffic and as long as your page is built to appeal to this kind of traffic, while looking and feeling different to your e-commerce site, there is a greater chance of driving more sales from one to the other.