If you’ve set your sights on the goal of building a profitable online ecommerce store, your chances of business survival and success are theoretically higher than if you pursued the goal of opening up a “bricks and mortar” store. One of the immediate advantages of creating an online ecommerce store is that you expand your potential marketing reach from the geographic region in which you live to the boundless expanse of the global Internet marketplace. Furthermore, the fact that you’re operating as a “virtual store”, rather than a traditional retail store, means that you can usually build an ecommerce website without the usual expenses, employees, and overhead of local businesses.

For existing retail or wholesale stores that have already established a large customer base and channels of distribution, setting up a professional online ecommerce store can be a route to even greater revenues and profit possibilities. As is the case with any business, however, a certain degree of risk is unavoidable and there are no guarantees that your online ecommerce store will be the next Internet success story.

Several of the factors that hold back ecommerce websites from realizing their full potential include the following realities of both human nature and ecommerce web site development:

1) Internet shoppers are generally pretty savvy, these days, and can quickly size up whether a web site is professional looking, well designed, and competitive, in terms of pricing, web design, navigability, payment options, selection, customer service and online security. In other words, you can’t just throw up a half-baked web site and expect the orders to start flying in from every corner of the globe.
2) Assuming you’ve turned over the development of your online ecommerce store to a competent ecommerce website development company, there’s still one critical challenge that is often overlooked: the necessity of attracting hundreds of targeted sales prospects and customers to your web site on a daily basis. Many a web site has been created that could easily win awards for beautiful web design, great navigability, and outstanding product selection, only to disappear from sight a year or two later, because nobody could find it on the four major search engines. Their web site was indexed but it was buried under hundreds of competitive listings. By neglecting to do keyword research to find out what shoppers are actually searching for, and then optimizing web pages for those specific traffic-generating phrases, there are untold numbers of professional-looking, well-organized online ecommerce stores that are – for all intents and purposes – invisible on the Web.

An action plan for avoiding the common pitfalls of running a startup Internet business, while, at the same time, increasing the chances of producing a healthy ecommerce return on investment, might include the following steps, strategies, and approaches: 1) Choose an ecommerce website development company with a portfolio of visually appealing, well organized online ecommerce stores. 2) Shop around for ecommerce web site software that supports all the major payment gateways, provides inventory management features, and offers all the shopping cart features your business needs. 3) Look for ecommerce web site software that enables you to get shipping quotes, do sales tax calculations, and helps you with order fulfillment tasks, such as printing shipping labels. 4) Ask if the ecommerce web site software you’re considering is secure against the theft of credit card data. Ideally, the company through which you get your shopping cart software and web hosting services should be PCI Level 1 CISP certified. Not only will this certification drastically reduce the chances of you or your customers falling victim to identity theft or credit card fraud, but it will also instill a “trust factor” in shoppers who visit your site. That creates an atmosphere that helps foster a higher percentage of sales conversions, valuable word-of-mouth referrals, and repeat visits.

Choosing an ecommerce web hosting provider that will be dependable and responsive to your needs is a lot like placing a bet in a high stakes crap shoot. While price is certainly a consideration, “cheap web hosting” can often be more of a headache than it’s worth. From a business management point of view, saving $20 or even $50 a month isn’t going to be much of a consolation if your company is losing thousands of dollars in sales due to excessive downtime, functionality problems, or horrendous customer service.

For most ecommerce web hosting users, satisfaction is based on two primary expectations: reliability and customer service. While no web hosting service can guarantee 100% uptime, it’s not unrealistic to promise 99.9% uninterrupted service. Something is inevitably going to come up, every now and then, that will cause a brief interruption in service, but it’s the responsibility of the web hosting company to make sure that those interruptions are resolved efficiently, quickly, and with as minimal of a disruption to your web business as possible. Even more important, is whether your ecommerce web hosting service provider has safeguards in place that will reduce or prevent the likelihood of technical problems taking place.

When weighing the benefits and features that are offered by different web hosting services, here are some important questions to keep in mind as you compare your options:

Does the web hosting service you’re considering monitor their servers on a 24/7 basis, and have measures in place to prevent, detect, and respond to fires, vandalism, and other emergencies?

Do they have backup systems for both data protection and power supply continuity. In other words, if your web hosting provider’s facilities experience a total power outage, what provisions do they have in place to ensure that your data isn’t lost and that your web site doesn’t go offline? One good sign that a web hosting provider is both reliable and service oriented is that they feed their servers with conditioned UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) that will continue to run even if there is a local power outage. They should also have an on-site diesel generator that will run indefinitely in the case of an extended power failure.

Other indications that the hosting service you’re considering has your best interests in mind is that they conduct nightly off-site data backups and have an off-site disaster recovery system. Since “Murphy’s Law” dictates that problems will inevitably crop up (and will do so at the worst possible time), your best bet as an ecommerce business owner is to sign on with an e commerce web hosting service that is geared up for providing the best possible service while being prepared to handle the worst catastrophes. In addition to the likelihood that they’ll be reliable, their level of preparedness is also a reflection of their professionalism, their technical savvy, and their dedication to customer service and satisfaction.

Assuming downtime, pricing, or disc space are not going to be issues, the items near the top of your checklist will undoubtedly be the quality of customer service and the level of technical support. Bandwidth, user friendliness, and email accounts are also key considerations in choosing a good service provider, but after all is said and done, if you can’t depend on your ecommerce web hosting service to be responsive, available, and helpful, then sooner or later, you’re going to be shopping for another web hosting solution.

The growing problems of credit card fraud and online security breaches make it more important than ever for Internet merchants to use a shopping cart system that is PCI Compliant. As ‘guidelines’ evolve into strict ‘requirements’ from major credit card brands, merchants have to make sure they’re running a tight ship — at least from the standpoint of information security.

The PCI Security Standards Council announced recently that all merchants and service providers who store, process, and transmit payment card data are required by the payment brands to comply with the PCI (Payment Card Industry) Data Security Standard. In addition to protecting sensitive data from hackers and other security threats, PCI compliance also helps online merchants to win the trust of their wary site visitors.

There are a lot of reasons Internet shoppers might abandon a shopping cart or never reveal their credit card information in the first place, but fear about the potential for credit card fraud or identity theft are often at the top of the list. All it takes is one security breach for an e-tailer to lose their good reputation or their right to process credit cards; and to an ecommerce web site owner, that can spell the difference between staying in business or joining the ranks of failed e-business ventures.

Improving sales conversion rates is a continual challenge for the online business community, and doing everything possible to build trust and increase a site visitor’s “comfort level” can positively affect the revenue of an e-commerce company

Bottom line: Make sure that your web hosting company and the eCommerce software on which you rely are PCI compliant and CISP certified. Providers who have successfully completed a “Cardholder Information Security Program” review are the best equipped to help you protect your customers’ valuable credit card data and help block that sensitive information from being routed into the ‘wrong hands’.

While there appears to be a lot of change taking place in the Internet marketing world, a few fundamental things remain constant and predictable. A prime example is the fact that most Internet searches are still done for the purpose of finding information. More often than not, search engine users want to find the answer to a question, solve a problem, or get help in making an informed purchasing decision.

Armed with this knowledge, many business owners make the all-too-common mistake of developing “tunnel vision”. In the quest to pull in as much Web traffic as possible, web site owners and marketers sometimes lose sight of who their audience is. The need to identify and understand your target market, and then tailor your message specifically to that group, is an aspect of marketing that will never change. If you fail to do that, you may end up with lots of one-time visitors who “bail” within the first few seconds. So the challenge is to strike a balance between good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and effective person-to-person communication.

As one presenter at the recent Search Engine Strategies Conference in New York City suggested: Try to look at your web site from the standpoint of someone who is seeing it for the first time. If the content seems awkward, stilted, or unnatural sounding, your visitors will probably be turned off and take their Web search (and their business) elsewhere. That’s why it’s important to have a website that’s easy to navigate, informative, unique, and “reader friendly”.

Building Brands and Relationships

Although getting a lot of search engine traffic may seem like the “holy grail” to many in ecommerce, there are other potentially valuable sources of traffic that small companies are beginning to recognize. Techniques such as social media marketing, blogging, and video sharing are steadily moving their way into mainstream Internet marketing. Perhaps the biggest development in the way people use the Internet is the fact that they’re now looking for an interactive experience that engages them and gets them involved with other members of the online community.

Since effective marketing has always been about establishing relationships, it’s a safe bet that Cyberspace will be the place where many of those business and professional relationships will take root and be cultivated.

The exciting news about doing business online is that you’re opening the door to a potentially huge global marketplace. Like any business opportunity, however, it’s necessary to survey the landscape, weigh your options, and be aware of the possible pitfalls. Choosing the right ecommerce web hosting provider is one of those important business decisions that should involve research, comparison, and a dose of healthy skepticism.

Five general factors that should be considered when shopping for ecommerce web hosting services are dependability, security, service, features, and value. Dependability deserves top billing because if your web site isn’t up and running more that 99% of the time, you could easily be losing customers, sales, and credibility. Even though excessive “down time” may be the fault of the ecommerce web hosting company you’ve chosen to do business with, you’re the one whose image will be tarnished in the eyes of your site visitors.

That’s why it’s advisable to only consider web site hosting providers that have an “uptime” guarantee approaching 100%, and the systems in place to back it up. It’s encouraging, for example, when a web hosting provider has a primary data center, a secondary data center, and 24/7 server monitoring. In addition to desirable features, such as nightly off-site data backup and redundant links to the Internet, two other key elements of a dependable, secure service is the capability for off-site disaster recovery. A comprehensive threat management system, such as an Astaro firewall, is another clear sign that an ecommerce web hosting company you’re considering is both dependable and security conscious.

Online Information Security Now a Top Priority

Maintaining a secure online checkout environment for ecommerce merchants is not the flexible option it was a few short years ago. As a matter of fact, in 2008, the PCI Security Standards Council announced that all merchants and service providers who store, process, and transmit payment card data are required by the payment brands to comply with the latest PCI (Payment Card Industry) Data Security Standard. Online merchants who don’t comply with these standards may be subject to hefty fines.

As mentioned earlier, your reputation is a valuable commodity to keep in mind when selecting an ecommerce web hosting provider. Since all it takes is one information security breach for an online retailer to lose their good reputation or their right to process credit cards, choosing a company that offers a secure hosting environment is essential to online business survival.

Bottom line: Make sure that your web hosting company and the eCommerce platform on which you rely are PCI compliant and CISP certified. Web hosting providers who have successfully completed a “Cardholder Information Security Program” review are the best qualified to help you protect your customers’ valuable credit card data and prevent that sensitive information from ending up in the ‘wrong hands’.

According to an article on PCI compliant eCommerce Web hosting, the requirements are rather stringent. Here are some of the highlights:

• All technicians that manage systems must have background checks before starting employment as well as adhere to a host of HR procedures
• Physical access to the data center must have robust authentication systems in place, i.e. biometric security etc.
• Video surveillance of data center access points with 3-month storage
• Firewall systems with stringent rule sets
• Intrusion detection system
• Host Intrusion detection systems
• Data servers must be on a private network (behind a second firewall with strict access rules)
• Server maintenance and upgrades must follow strict procedures and policies

Many eCommerce web hosting providers are not CISP certified or fully PCI-compliant, so if you’re an ecommerce merchant who does credit card transactions online, be skeptical of companies that claim to be compliant with the latest standards. On the other hand, when a web site hosting company does go to the trouble and expense of becoming PCI-compliant and CISP certified, it says a lot about their high level of professionalism, attention to detail, and priorities.

While dependability and security are at the top of many people’s priority lists when shopping for a web hosting provider, there are a few other considerations worth keeping in mind, too. Sooner or later the availability of customer service or technical service representatives becomes of the utmost importance for web hosting customers. How can you know if a provider is customer service oriented? Online reviews of Web hosting sites, discussion forums, or credible testimonials can potentially be an objective way to gauge the quality and availability of service from any particular web hosting provider. In the absence of any objective online information, you can always email or call a few of a company’s web hosting clients, which are sometimes listed in the portfolio section of the web hosting company’s web site. (That’s especially true if it’s a web hosting company that provides web development services and/or web design services). When entering the final stretch of choosing the best ecommerce web hosting provider for your needs, don’t hesitate to ask them the tough questions.

Joel Sussman is an SEM Specialist with Mountain Media, a CISP-certified eCommerce web hosting and web development company located in Saratoga Springs, NY, just outside the Capital Area of Albany, NY.

It’s hard to ignore the layoffs, the business closings, and the foreclosures that are magnified in the media day after day after day. There’s no denying that we’re in the midst of a pervasive recession, but the question is “Should we retreat into our shells and wait for it to go away or should take a proactive stance and do everything we can to prevail under trying circumstances?”

The problem with being fearful about the future is that is robs you of all the internal resources you need to overcome adversity. So, for example, if you own a new ecommerce business, and you suddenly impose a freeze on web development, web design, and SEO services, you could be stunting the growth of your web business and imposing an unnecessary moratorium on its progress.

While scaling back on expenses is sometimes the only prudent thing to do, it may be equally or more beneficial to your mental and financial health to scale back on your consumption of “gloom-and-doom” news reports, headlines, and even conversations around the water cooler relating to the recession.

To Freeze or Not to Freeze (spending)

Diving, head first, into a huge pay-per-click campaign in the middle of a recession may not be the best idea, considering how much money can be burned up within a relatively short period of time. The same principle may hold true for any kind of major advertising campaign, especially if it involves an untested new concept or advertising message.

Unless you’re operating on a tight austerity budget, however, it may be unnecessary to come to a screeching halt with marketing activities that are free or affordable, such as blogging, social networking, public relations, article writing and placement, search engine optimization, and sales conversion tracking and improvement.

Obviously, everyone’s situation is different, and for some businesses and households, the best thing to do is to put a tight clamp on all unnecessary spending. The ongoing challenge for both consumers and business owners, during this recessionary period, is to avoid blowing the situation out of proportion. If everyone could go about their lives with as much cautious optimism as they could muster (and that will vary widely from one person to the next), then I maintain that we would emerge from this recession sooner, and with fewer people losing their homes, their businesses, or remaining out of work.

On the other hand, maybe I’m just a hopeless “cautious optimist”.

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with an ecommerce business owner wanting to design their own website, as long as they have at least some experience with laying out and designing text and graphics. I’m pretty sure that most people with a journalism, advertising agency, art, publishing, or public relations background would have a pretty good sense of what looks reasonably acceptable on a website.

Well I’m not a graphic designer, but my editorial, newsletter publishing, SEO, and public relations experience give me a pretty good idea of what comprises effective communication and what makes a site visitor want to avert their eyes and hit the backspace button in a hurry.

Here are a few suggestions I’d make to do-it-yourself website designers who are taking a stab at designing a website for the first time:

1) Avoid large text except for headlines. It smacks of amateurishness. (say that word fast four times real fast)

2) A cluttered look not only looks unprofessional, but it’s confusing to your site visitors.

3) Stay away from things which almost universally annoy people: too many (or any) animated graphics, pop up windows, too much italicized text, multiple exclamation points, broken links, and… well, I’ll add to the list as things occur to me.

4) Consider professional web design services, if you don’t have the time or the eye for aesthetics that is necessary for creating a decent-looking, navigable web site.

5) Some web users find white text against black or a dark background to be an immediate reason to go to another web site. Small text is an irritant for anyone over forty.

6) Testimonials are baaad if they sound contrived, but generally helpful to the sales process if they look authentic.

7) Flash pages are a mixed bag. In some cases, they’re impressive and captivating, while in other cases they’re perceived as an obstacle. With rare exceptions, flash pages have the same effect on me as the “on-hold” advertisement I have to listen to on the phone every time I call my favorite pizza delivery place. Upshot: It would be interesting to know what the statistics are, but my educated guess is that most people click on “skip flash page”. A really good, effective flash page could be compared to an exceptional TV commercial — they’re few and far between.

8) Try to put your ego on a shelf and get outside opinions of your website design, navigation, and overall “look and feel”. Second opinions from almost anyone are valuable, especially if they could fit the demographic of your “typical” site visitor. I think what you want to find out from someone who is somewhat of an experienced Web surfer is what their first impressions are of your home page.

9) Be flexible. If you’re getting a decent amount of traffic to your website, but your conversion rate is abysmal, change your graphics or headlines or the amount of white space or how things are positioned relative to one another. Don’t cling to a page design or sales message that’s broken.

10) Take a tip from the advertising world. Madison Avenue has mastered the art of persuasion. After all is said and done, one of the most important aspects of a well-designed and well written website is this: buying decisions are generally based on emotional factors rather than rational or logical ones. Ask yourself and other people “How does this web page make you feel. To put it in Star Trek terms: Captain Kirk would make a more effective copywriter and web designer than Mr. Spock because logic will get you half the way there and then leaves you stranded out somewhere in oblivion.

With the economy acting funky and the internet marketplace continuing to get overcrowded, it’s more important than ever to develop a marketing plan and use it like a compass to help you reach your online business goals or. Here are a few search engine marketing and website development ideas to consider as you prepare for the challenges ahead:

1) Resolve to add useful, keyword-rich content to your web site every week. Useful information that will help your site visitors solve a problem, be more efficient, save money, make informed decisions, or simply understand your products or services better will help attract targeted visitors to your site and give them a reason to return. If you resolve to add value to your website every week, on a continual basis, this will also prompt fellow webmasters to recognize your site as a useful resource and link to your content pages or home page. As you probably know, this will have a beneficial effect on your search engine positioning, particularly with Google.

2) Resolve to develop an Internet marketing plan and stick to it. When you create a written plan, two productive things happen. First of all, it forces you to think about it and research some of the many Internet marketing options out there. Second of all, a well thought-out plan gives you the equivalent of a road map that will help guide you along the way and remind you where you’re going.

3) In the same way that you’d ask directions, buy a GPS unit for your car, or hire a tour guide… resolve to get the help of qualified professionals if you’re in need of ecommerce web development, an ecommerce web hosting company, payment processing capabilities or an SEO web design agency. Sometimes, getting help from an expert can make all the difference!

Upstate New York Credit Union launches new Web site using Mountain Media’s Content Management System

Saratoga Springs, NY – December 18 , 2008 – Mountain Media, a national web design and development firm specializing in ecommerce solutions, software application design and development, website hosting and Internet marketing, announced that it has launched a new website for Hudson River Community Credit Union (HRCCU). The new website replaces the credit union’s previous website that has been in place for the past five years at www.hrccu.org.

Powering the new website is the Mountain Publisher Content Management System (CMS), which was designed to simplify the task of organizing large websites and allows non-technical employees of the credit union the ability to update and manage content on the site. Personnel, with the use of a standard web browser and secure login can easily add information, such as updates to the credit union’s products and services and through advanced security permissions, administrators can be given access to modify content in very specific areas of the new website. This is expected to save the credit union money by reducing the dependency on highly technical staff just to manage website content.

In addition to the implementation of the Mountain Publisher CMS, Mountain Media’s effective Search Engine Marketing (SEM) techniques, services and features will allow the organization’s website to be found more easily when users make relevant searches on popular search engines such as Google. The credit union will also take advantage of Mountain Media’s built-in eNewsletter suite which will help them maintain their commitment to regular communication with their members by allowing them to easily organize, build and distribute email newsletters.
Hudson River Community Credit Union’s new website conveys its products, services, member benefits, financial education, etc. by providing a clear and efficient navigational path for a fast and informative member/visitor online experience.

Extensive research and usability testing was incorporated into the redesign. For example, in response to the credit union’s current visitor website traffic patterns, tabs have been conveniently placed along the top of the homepage for direct and easy access to Virtual Branch online banking, eStatements, rate and loan information and membership eligibility. Also, financial education tools for all ages have been grouped together to provide a quick overview of offerings with convenient access to the tools.
Completely Redesigned

“Mountain Media created a new, modern design which conveys a presence of community for our members and visitors to our site,” says Susan Commanda, HRCCU Chief Executive Officer. “They have taken the time to work with us to understand our objectives and business needs resulting in a new website which will enhance our member’s online experience, keep content fresh and ensure it will be found by search engines.

Hudson River Community Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial cooperative owned and governed by its members. Profits made by the credit union are returned to the members in the form of higher rates on savings, lower rates on loans, and low fees.

Hudson River Community Credit Union serves 19,600 members and has four branches:

• 312 Palmer Ave., Corinth;
• 160 Broad St., Glens Falls;
• 98 River St., Cohoes; and
• Seton Hall, 1444 Massachusetts Ave., Troy.

Anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or businesses and other legal entities located in Warren County, Washington County, Saratoga County, and Rensselaer County or the Towns of Cohoes, Watervliet and Green Island are eligible to join the credit union. For more information, call 518-654-9028/ 800-824-0700 or visit www.hrccu.org.

For more information about Mountain Media products and services, please visit www.mountainmedia.com or call 877-583-0300.

Although there’s an ever-increasing amount of competition in the world of eCommerce, the good news for Internet bidniz owners is that many web sites overlook one or more essential elements of online success. If you know the basics and focus on providing your website visitor with a quality experience, then you’re half way there. Here are a few ideas on avoiding failure and leveraging opportunity.

1) Create and post useful, informative content that your prospective clients or customers are actually looking for. A couple days ago, I clicked on a the number one Google listing for search I was conducting; and the article that came up was — and I’m being charitable in my choice of words, here — total and complete fluff. The keywords were repeated gratuitously and the content of the article contained no value whatsoever! Obviously the entire purpose of the article was to generate traffic and then make money from (frustrated) page visitors clicking on Google AdWords ads. Unfortunately there doesn’t exist an algorithm that can gauge whether an article offers any useful information or is just a thinly veiled scheme for achieving high search engine rankings and traffic.

2) Keyword research and good SEO makes the difference between generating lots of targeted traffic and pulling in a handful of lost web surfers. One of the deepest pitfalls of DIY website optimizers and novice webmasters is a failure to choose keyword phrases that people are actually searching for on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.com. For example, in the unlikely event that you’re optimizing your ecommerce web site for the keyword phrase “free hawaiian steel guitar sheet music” or “spongebob hawaiian guitar tunes”, you’d need to set your expectations low, because only two or three people actually search for those specific phrases on Google, every day. On the plus side, you’d only be competing with one or two other sites on the entire Web for that smattering of potential web traffic. (Well, actually, once this blog post gets indexed, there may be one more web page showing up in search engine results for those keyword phrases!)

3) If your daily visitor-to-customer ratio (conversion rate) is abysmal, that could mean one of four things: either your prices are too high, you’re focusing on unproductive (the wrong) keywords, your site doesn’t instill buyer trust and confidence –so people are leaving without buying, there’s a problem with your web site shopping cart functionality, or — in the absence of any clearcut problems — the failure may be the result of the “gremlin factor” (aka in the medical community as “idiopathy”).

4) Getting quality incoming links to your site is a “necessary evil”. It’s a fact of life. If you want to rank in the search engines, you can’t get around it. You can’t and shouldn’t attempt to do it all in one day, but it’s a good idea to incorporate it into your weekly web site marketing strategy. There are a number of ways to accomplish this aspect of search engine marketing, including article placement and participation in blogs, online forums, providing testimonials, buying links back to your site, and asking other webmasters with related sites to post your link or trade links.

5) Quick tip: When shopping for ecommerce web hosting, bear in mind that “cheap” is often synonymous with “undependable service”, so strive for cost-effectiveness in choosing a web hosting provider, rather than cheapness.

Summary: If you build a search engine friendly ecommerce web site, make it a point to write primarily for people rather than search engines, utilize some basic business sense, SEO strategies, and web design principles, then you’ll greatly reduce your chances of ecommerce failure (aka: The Gremlin Factor).

I recently created some web pages (called “lenses”) on Squidoo.com focusing on different aspects of ecommerce, ecommerce web design, and SEO web design. The articles are called Ecommerce Opportunities and Pitfalls, Key Requirements of an eCommerce Entrepreneur, SEO Web Design Tips for Ecommerce, and How to Make Your eCommerce Website Stand Out from the Crowd.

Although Squidoo seems to be a worthwhile resource for marketing a business or just expressing yourself, there does appear to be a rather large learning curve involved in making the most out of it. I guess, like many things, it just involves jumping in and wading your way through it!