Why Arent People Buying From Your Ecommerce Website?

Your stock is tempting, your prices right - your ecommerce website is good to go, but somehow the customers just aren't buying. So where are you going wrong?

Make sure people can find your ecommerce website.

What are you doing to bring customers to your ecommerce web site? It's not enough to just design a website and then sit back and wait for the money to come rolling in as eager customers flock to your store. In fact, unless you go out of your way to show them, your prospective customers may not even know your business exists at all.

First of all, make sure your ecommerce website is optimised for the web. You should be using good key words throughout the site, and in your meta tags (if you don't know what meta tags are, your designer should!) You should also be building as many links to your ecommerce web site as possible, as the more opportunities people have to click on a link to your site, the greater the likelihood of your website cropping up in the search engines - and attracting visitors.

You should also think about online advertising for your ecommerce website. Pay per click advertising, for example, allows you to set a daily budget and pay for your site to appear in search engine listings. It could be a good idea if you're serious about bringing in visitors.

What if you're getting the visitors to your ecommerce website, but not getting the sales?

If there are plenty of people coming to your ecommerce website, but none of them are buying anything, you know that the problem lies either with the site itself, or with your stock.

First of all, think about your stock. Is it well presented on the site, with clear pictures and good item descriptions? Is it fairly priced? Take a look at some of your main competitor's websites, and see how much they're charging. With so much choice on offer, no one will buy from you if they can get the same thing cheaper elsewhere ? and remember that the internet makes it easy to shop around. If your prices are the same, or even lower, than the competition, however, you may have to look elsewhere to find out what the problem could be.

Is your ecommerce website itself putting off buyers?

One of the main reasons people give for not shopping on the internet is fears about security. Your ecommerce web site should have a clearly stated privacy policy, and returns policy. People who are giving you their money before they receive their goods are making a leap of trust; they have to trust you to take only the amount you've said you're going to take from their credit card, and they have to trust you to actually send the goods they're buying from you. Because they can't actually see the goods in the flesh (as it were) before they buy them, they'll also often look for reassurance that if they aren't satisfied, they'll be able to get their money back. You should make sure that they can find reassurance on all of these points just by looking at your ecommerce web site.

Amber McNaught is co-owner of Hot Igloo Productions Ltd, a website design and online marketing firm offering high quality designs at affordable prices. Visit their website at http://www.hotigloo.co.uk

In The News:


Ecommerce Software: Recommendations For Business Solutions ...
Corsavoo.com, France - Sep 6, 2008
Each and every day hundreds of ecommerce websites open for business and every day hundreds shut shop. All of them are out to do business ethically and all ...
Ecommerce Software, The Future Of Online Business Transactions ... Corsavoo.com
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eCommerce Stock Pair Trade: Amazon vs. eBay
Seeking Alpha, NY - 21 hours ago
Pair trading is an especially suitable approach if you are not sure if the market will go down or up, but you are "sure" about the valuation of stock pairs ...

Hooked on Phonics Selects Bridgeline Software to Power New ...
MarketWatch - Sep 4, 2008
NET-based eCommerce system, Hooked on Phonics looks to improve their online store capabilities and increase existing eCommerce sales. ...

PR Web (press release)

McAps, Inc. Launches New and Improved eCommerce Website
PR Web (press release), WA - Sep 6, 2008
Capitalizing on the current strength of eCommerce and the growing success of business to business websites on the web, McAps plans to position itself as the ...

The Art Of Ecommerce Survival
Corsavoo.com, France - Sep 6, 2008
Dell took ecommerce to new levels changing how people purchased computers and office electronics, an amazing feat for someone with one year of college ...

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER - JAVA / SEARCH / ECOMMERCE
Seattle Times, United States - Sep 3, 2008
Greythorn is currently representing a major player in the e-commerce consulting arena. This 500 person company is big enough to be a household name in their ...

Web Hosting Offered to Non-Profits, with Ecommerce Software
WebSite Host Directory (press release), OR - Sep 5, 2008
Franklin, Tennessee - (Website Hosting Directory) - September 5, 2008 - Software provider, Sum Effect, is providing up to 20 free ecommerce hosting and ...

Killer Startups

BillingRevolution.com - The Future Of eCommerce
Killer Startups, FL - Sep 5, 2008
Online retailing seems to be stuck in the past. If you’re looking for a way to make your online sales more dynamic, you should try out ...

“Internet Summit 08” Registration Officially Opens
dBusinessNews Charlotte (press release), NC - 5 hours ago
... online advertising, search engine optimization, blogs, software as a service, the mobile web, ecommerce, internet security and email marketing. ...

Comodo CEO Downloadable on Practical Ecommerce Podcast
TechWhack (press release), India - Sep 4, 2008
... a leading Certification Authority, answered questions from Kerry Murdock of PracticaleCommerce.com on his program eCommerce Conversations. ...
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