eCommerce is placed in the 'too hard basket' by many businesses because the thought of organising a web designer, getting a secure SSL certificate and IP address, sorting out products, and determining how to layout the site and make it look great is just too overwhelming.

There are many questions that need to be answered when considering an eCommerce enabled web site. Here are a few of them:

1. Why should people buy your product or service?
   
   What is it that makes your product/service worth paying for? If you have a successful sales history, then you will already have the answer to this question, but if you are just starting out, this is an important question to ask as it will determine how you utilise your eCommerce site.
2. Who is already successfully selling similar products or services on the net?
   
   General Sun-Tzu's saying 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer' holds great relevance here. You need to get inside your oppositions head. Spend a day (or two) surfing their web sites, looking at navigation, layout, design concepts, product placement and overall site construct. Take notes! This information is immensely valuable.
   
3. How will you promote your web site?
   
   There are countless avenues to market your web site, however a solid marketing plan that lists a number of possible steps to take, will help to focus your marketing efforts and avoid distraction. While Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can be implemented to effectively rate your site at the top of internet search engines, sometimes this is not the most cost effective method of marketing your site. You need to consider print advertising, email marketing, and other forms of media, including radio and television. While it's a nice notion to think that if you build a well constructed web site people will find it, in reality this is just a pipe dream. Building any web site without considering a solid marketing plan is many times fruitless. So get your marketing plan together.
   
4. Who is going to maintain your web site?
   
   Once an eCommerce site is up and running, it will require constant attention. Depending on what you are selling, this could mean a couple of hours a week or a fulltime job for someone. Inevitably, products and descriptions need to be updated, prices changed, options amended, new items added, customer queries responded to, order progress tracked, etc. While an eCommerce site will streamline much of this process and make things easy for you to administer, it can't do the thinking for you, so be prepared to put some time and effort in. Especially when you start entering products into the site!

Mooloolaba Web is here to help you work through these and other questions before starting work on your eCommerce site. Once we have the answers, we can then develop an eCommerce site that will effectively achieve your goals. We can build it and then give you the keys, or you can contract us to provide ongoing maintainence for your site as well. Whatever your budget, we will get beside you and work through the project to completion. Contact Dave for more information.