2. Create a User-Friendly Site
Your site must be user-friendly.  Not everyone is a computer expert so making your site as intuitive as possible is very important.  Customers should be able to find items they are searching for easily and the checkout process and shipping and return terms and policies should be laid out clearly.  As a merchant utilizing e-commerce hosting services, you should also have your site organized in an easy to understand fashion so that items are easily found when users are browsing through categories.

3. Site Speed
The speed of your site is highly important these days and it is becoming more important everyday.  Google and other search engines are using site speed as a ranking factor in the SERP (search engine results pages).  Moreover, online shoppers conduct business online to save time so if you have a slow site, they will simply move on to your competition.  Let’s face it — people shop online to save time.  Customers do not like a slow site.  You will need to make sure that your business web hosting provider has fast servers and that your site is performing to the best of its capabilities for the amount of traffic you generate.  Make sure that you choose a web host that can expand with you as your business grows or that understands how to deal with increasing traffic to your site.  For example, many e-commerce businesses experience traffic bursts during the holiday season.  You do not want to lose valuable sales because of lagging servers and the like.  It is worth paying a few extra dollars in hosting costs in order to make sure your site is operating to the best of its ability. 

4. Provide Meticulous Details
Another key to online business success is to provide detailed product images and descriptions.  Online customers want to know as best as they can what they are ordering or else they will not feel comfortable ordering from your site.  You should have high-resolution photos of your products as well as detailed text descriptions.  In fact, there is no such thing as too much detail.  When a shopper cannot physically hold the product they are purchasing in their hands, they need to know as much information about it as possible.  Keep in mind that you can also include videos of your products.

5. Reviews & Testimonials
One of the most important features to include in your website is customer testimonials regarding your products and/or services.  If a person does a web search for your company and “reviews,” you never want anything negative to come up.  Negative reviews can last forever and are very detrimental to your site.  If you can place a page of positive reviews and testimonials on your site, people will take notice.  This is also important in establishing customer relationships because people like to know that their opinion matters and this is an excellent way to get referrals and repeat customers.  These opinions are also crucial in developing your marketing strategies.

Follow these tips and you will be on your way to e-commerce success!

If you are the operator of an online business and not yet taking advantage of Miva Web Hosting then now is the perfect time to transfer.  With the new “Wombat,” Miva Merchant is now officially a PCI PA-DSS (Payment Card Industry, Payment Application – Data Security Standard) certified shopping cart application.  The deadline for PCI Compliance is very rapidly approaching and all e-commerce sites must comply with the DSS guidelines by July 1^st, 2010.  If an e-commerce website processes and stores credit card transactions and/or other private information then they must utilize PCI Compliant Miva Hosting and all payment applications must adhere to the PA-DSS.

Non-compliance with the rules established by the PCI causes websites to risk increased merchant fees and penalties, termination of merchant accounts, costly fines and even being completely shutdown.  Many shopping carts and e-commerce hosting applications are not compliant with the new DSS, especially carts that are considered “open-source” and lack the funds to go through the certification process.  This is bad news for those operating e-commerce websites that use shopping carts that are not certified.  The risks of non-compliance, highlighted above, are a very really threat to the livelihood of online storeowners.  If your site is not compliant with the new DSS because you are using a shopping cart that is not certified, then now is the perfect time to transfer.  July 1^st is very rapidly approaching and your business could be severely and detrimentally impacted due to non-compliance.

Other features of the new Miva Merchant “Wombat” include:

• Advanced order processing tools
• Innovative inventory management
• Updated, user-friendly CSS interface
• Dynamic pricing
• Ability to take phone orders from the admin panel
• Improved SEO capabilities

The new CSS UI is beneficial for the e-commerce operator in many ways.  It increases functionality of websites by truly separating a site’s content, code and physical appearance.  This new feature allows users to change the visual elements of their website without modifying the way in which it functions, which decreases the chance of a site breaking and not performing to its best ability.  With the new UI, a better site and administrative layout is created providing users with a modern looking and functioning site without any costly or time consuming development.

The cutting-edge, new Miva Merchant Wombat truly takes the online store to the next level.  With this release, Miva Merchant solidifies itself as the leader in customizable online shopping cart software.

Since hosting in the cloud allows for an unlimited number of sites, databases and email accounts, cloud computing is becoming rather popular among big businesses and government agencies.  As with any form of web hosting, there are pros and cons to the cloud, especially considering it is such fresh technology.  For those considering signing up with a cloud host, there are some important things to make sure of.

When it comes to security, there are some controversial aspects to cloud computing since certain privileged users have full administrative access.  If your company is storing secure information in the cloud, can you truly trust those employed by the hosting company when you most likely do not know them?  You need to ask yourself “Who hires and manages these administrators?”  When it comes to secure and confidential information, you need to ensure that you know who is managing the data in case of a security breech or other unwanted activity.

If you are involved in any form of e-commerce and use Miva Merchant as your shopping cart application, for example, you will need to make certain that you are utilizing a fully PCI Compliant Miva Merchant Web Host, even if your site is hosted in the cloud.   You must also make sure, especially in the e-commerce realm, that the vendor is willing and able to be audited, pass security clearance tests and that data is properly encrypted.  They must be compliant with the PCI and have taken all necessary steps to compliant with the new PA-DSS so that your e-commerce company has the ability to legally process credit card transactions.  A QSA from the PCI board must be able to access the network in order to perform regular scans.

In regards to the new PA-DSS, all shopping cart applications must adhere to the guidelines established by the PCI.  If your site is utilizing non-compliant shopping cart software after the July 1^st, 2010 deadline for compliance then you could face increased merchant fees and penalties and even risk hefty fines and having your site shutdown.  Miva Merchant 5.5 is a fully compliant shopping cart that has recently been DSS certified.  If you utilize Miva Web Hosting services then your site is on the road to PCI compliance.

Another question to ask of your cloud hosting provider is if they will allow you to control where your data is physically located.  The physical location of your site’s data centers and servers could be an issue in many ways.  The first thing that comes to mind is site speed.  The data for your site and or company should not be too geographically far away in order to prevent slow page load times.  This is increasingly important since Google is now using site speed as a factor in ranking web pages in their results.  Also, you want to be able to easily converse with those operating the data centers to eliminate any problems where things like time zones and languages can come into play.

When it comes to cloud computing, traditional backups as we know them do not exist since there is usually no secondary cloud.  This makes it all that more important for clients to take the proper steps to complete backups on their own.  What happens regarding client data recovery in the case of a disaster?  When it comes to lost data in the cloud, huge, costly messes can ensue.  Exorbitant amounts of money, time, litigation, lost business and lost clients are the results of lost website information.  There have been several high profile instances of the cloud crashing.

If you plan on moving to a cloud environment, you need to find out what the provider will do in the case of compromised or lost data.  Will the vendor be able to safely move your data into a different environment?  Furthermore, find out what will happen to your data if the company goes out of business.  Make sure that your files and systems will be returned to you because even if you do not own the cloud, you definitely own your files even though they are part of the cloud.  Find out what happens in the case of a disaster –Does the vendor offer complete restoration, and, if so, how long does that process take?

Despite the cons and uncertainty regarding some aspects of the cloud, there are advantages to cloud computing.  The most obvious is that users can access systems via a web connection.  There is no need to access a certain computer or program.  The cloud can be accessed with any web-enabled device including laptops and smartphones.  This also allows the cloud to be accessed from anywhere in the world at anytime as long as there is an Internet connection available.

Proponents of cloud computing believe that data is generally more secure in the cloud than in traditional servers because of the centralization.  Also, it is safe to suppose that there are increased security resources in the modern cloud environment.  Since the companies running the cloud have more resources financially they can instill security systems that the average client cannot afford and their staff may be more trained to handle such issues.  On the other hand, opponents (as stated above) worry about sensitive data being in the hands of cloud technicians that they do not personally know and are relying on the company to hire trustworthy administrators.

Each month we profile one of our clients that operate a successful e-commerce site in our newsletter and blog.  This month’s company is Lydia’s Land LLC.  Lydia’s Land specializes in selling handmade greeting cards for all occasions.  Each card is decorated with Lydia’s original artwork, using a wide variety of materials and textures to create extremely unique cards at an astoundingly low price – most cards retail for just $3.  The following is a discussion we had with Lydia regarding her site:

Can you give us a brief description and history of your business?
Lydia’s Land cards mate positive and uplifting quotations with handcrafted artwork to create products that attract buyers looking for truly unique greeting cards.

I use a wide variety of exciting materials and textures, such as marbleized paper, painted tissue paper, fabric ribbon, acrylic paint, and more to create eye-catching cards that bring customers back time and again.

Most of my greeting cards retail for just $3.00 and all are manufactured on 100% recycled paper.  Additionally, my cards can also be found in some of America’s finest card, gift, stationery, and book stores.

How long have you been using Miva Merchant?
We have been using Miva Merchant for at least five years.

If applicable, were you using Miva before you signed up with WebNet Hosting?  What made you choose Miva and WebNet to host your store?
We switched to WebNet because of their extensive Miva knowledge and because they informed me that I could stop buying the costly Miva Support plan from Miva Merchant for technical support because they would handle my technical support issues.  Also, my experience with my past host was horrible.

What do you like most about Miva Merchant?
The administration page is easy to use and user-friendly.

What do you like most about WebNet Hosting?
So far, I haven’t had any problems.  They have good technical support.

What do you like least about Miva?  What are some common problems?
I do not like that you need to buy third-party modules for features that, in my opinion, should be built into the product by default.

I also think the program could provide better user documentation.

What do you like least about WebNet?  What would you change?  What features would you add?
Personally, I wish they had a modestly priced VPS plan.

How many items do you offer for sale on your site?
Approximately 200.

Do you use any modules?  Which ones?  Which are your favorite and why?
I use Emporium Plus Toolkit.  It is simply the best module and includes so much increased functionality to your store.  It is like the missing link of Miva Merchant.

Have you had any third-party development done on your site?
No.

What do you use for credit card payments and what have your experiences been?
I use merchant services through my bank and have not had any problems.

How many employees do you have?
One.

What are your strategies for SEO?
I use a site-map to help search engines index all pages of my store.  I also utilize meta tags with strong keywords.

What were some of your biggest mistakes? (so that others can possibly learn from them)
Not having a large enough sales force.

What have been your biggest successes?
Building a loyal customer base of good customers that keep re-ordering.

Make sure you check out the unique greeting cards that Lydia makes at LydiasLand.com — Below is an example of one of her cards:

• Create a site search function so shoppers can easily find items or services with little effort.
• Put this search function on all pages of your site.
• Organize your site with easy to navigate categories.
• Look at your site from a shopper’s point of view and make sure that shopping from your store is simple.

2.  Give Your Products and Services Extremely Detailed Descriptions.

• Online shoppers cannot physically see your offerings so provide high quality images of each item for sale.
• Give your clients the option to zoom in on and rotate images so they get the full picture.
• If selling used items or goods with any sort of imperfections, make sure that these defects are clearly visible.
• Use videos to show your products or services whenever possible.  This will often trump your competition.
• Along with video, use audio whenever possible to describe your products or services.

3.  Guarantee Site Security.

• Ensure that your site is PCI and PA-DSS Compliant.  Remember that not all hosts or shopping carts are compliant.  Miva Merchant 5.5 will be fully compliant with the PA-DSS by the July 2010 deadline.
• Install valid SSL Certificates so that confidential information is properly encrypted.
• Create a “Contact Us” page.  Customers will trust you more if you provide a physical address and telephone number.

4.  Supply Customer Reviews and Testimonials.

• Put a review system in place on your site.  There are review modules for Miva Merchant 5.5 on the market.
• Positive reviews of your products and service are perhaps the most important tool in establishing a successful online business.
• If a client sees that their opinions matter to you then there is a greater chance that they will become a repeat customer.
• Taking your customers’ ideas and opinions into consideration can greatly aid you in your marketing campaigns.

5.  Increase Your Site’s Speed and Page Load Times.

• People shop online to save time. They will generally be turned off by a site with slow load times.
• Use a qualified and knowledgeable business web hosting provider that has fast servers and an uptime guarantee.
• Ensure that your hosting plan provides adequate bandwidth for the amount of traffic your site receives
• Make sure that your host is willing and able to grow with you as your business grows and generates more traffic.

6.  Perform Proper Market Research.

• Study in-depth what your competition is doing including their marketing, pricing and basically all aspects of your business.
• Institute price-matching programs to keep up with the pricing your competitors are offering.
• Conduct research to find your target demographic and market accordingly.

7.  Properly Promote Your Business.

• Make sure you are reaching your target audience by listing your site in respective directories.
• Utilize site statistics tools such as the free Google Analytics to develop proper marketing plans.
• Conduct smart Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns to get to the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for targeted keywords including link building, directory marketing, social networking, article marketing, forum and blog posts and many other techniques.
• Properly use meta descriptions and tags to guarantee the correct indexing and ranking in the search engines.

8.  Clearly State Your Shipping and Return Policies.

• No one likes any kind of hidden fees so be upfront about these policies.
• Offer shipping discounts for the purchase of multiple items.
• Offer free shipping whenever possible for customers that spend a certain amount of money with you.
• Be frank about who is paying for shipping when it comes to returns.

9.  Make Plainly Visible What Methods You Accept For Payment.

• Put accepted methods of payment on your home page.
• For smaller merchants, services like PayPal and Google Checkout may be sufficient.
• In order to be widely successful, realistically you will need to be able to accept major credit cards.
• The more payment options you offer the better.

10.  Devote a Page to Sale and Discounted Items.

• An abundance of online shoppers will jump straight to the clearance section just like many customers do in brick and mortar establishments.  People are drawn to bargains.  Simple as that.  Especially in today’s economy.
• Highlight your discounted goods as much as you can.

Properly following these steps will help any e-commerce merchant be on their way to running a successful online business.  Good luck!