Most businesses, including those that have an online presence, are continuously looking for ways to make more sales, and one way in which they achieve this is by utilizing internet marketing tools. There are various tools employed by different experts to ensure boost in sales over the internet. However, the true efficiency of these tools depends to a great extent on the manner of their deployment and monitoring. Internet marketing has its own set of peculiar problems, which each of these tools tries to address to some extent. However, the overall impact on sales is determined by the combined effect of all such tools working in conjunction with each other to create marketing synergy. Chris Brown, President of Marketing Resources & Results and author of Branding & Marketing, stated the following:

A strong online presence is a key to many business’ marketing programs.

The Importance of Analytics

The overwhelming competition for online visibility implies that only the smartest shall survive. Thus a whole new field of internet analytics has evolved to get your business the right inputs which could make the difference to your sales strategies. The traffic pattern and preference is the first thing that is targeted by this type of analytics. There are tools galore that can give you an insight on the peculiar online behaviors of your target audience. This information then forms the basis of your sales strategy. The site is then optimized to suit the pattern tracked in the analysis process. James Archer, CEO of Forty, states that,

Not only do you get a skewed subset of the target audience-those willing to be forced to fill out surveys-but you’re going to get a lot of people filling out random information to get to the article behind it.

Tracking the Strategy

Once the results of the analytics are available, a well defined strategy can now be worked out towards increasing sales. Service related keywords need to be identified for creating unique and fresh content which can obtain better rankings in online searches. However the best results can be obtained if the keywords are used in conjunction with the overall plans. The next step that is put in place is a dedicated tracking plan, which monitors the ever changing search engine rankings and positions, and will thereby provide inputs for changes needed. Automated trackers can also be deployed for the purpose to generate regular reports on the rankings and thereby suggest changes in the given keywords strategy.

Mapping the Site

The more successful sites are usually the ones that are well laid out, making it convenient for the visitor to navigate and have a pleasant experience. This kind of engagement with visitors translates into increased sales. A good site map additionally helps in getting listed and indexed better with the search engines. It is then that the true benefits of employing related keywords with relevant content can be seen.

Once there is traffic generated, the site needs to be heat mapped in terms of analysis of the pattern of visit and the clicking habits of the visitors. That provides a fair idea about the most used portions of the page where critical buttons such as navigation points, headers and products etc can be displayed.

Social Media Bookmarking

This relatively new sphere has gained tremendous importance in the past few years. With social media gaining pervading status online, this type of bookmarking can also benefit your site from associated searches and related clicks. Emeric Ernault, on socialmediaexaminer.com, stated that,

By looking at each key Facebook metric individually, it’s very hard to understand how you can improve it. But when you compare one metric to another relevant metric, you can see what’s wrong.

While everyone knows the key internet marketing tools, the real challenge lies in employing them in combination to harness the best possible results.

The advent of eCommerce has virtually transformed the definition of shopping. The shopping habits and preferences of people across the globe have drastically been affected with availability of almost everything of interest online, with a wide variety to choose from at the click of a button. Research indicates that it is the fastest growing shopping channel poised, to exceed $327 Billion by 2016 in the US alone. That being the case, the competition has also arrived on the scene and it takes much more than having a portal to succeed in the ecommerce space. There are no downright proven formulas for success in this ever changing world of online competition, but a few essentials will always keep you over the horizon and get your site noticed above the competitors. The design and layout of your portal along with online visibility are some of the key factors in getting traffic to your site who may then proceed to place an order. Growth Street Marketing CEO Michelle Heath states,

Ah, the land of eCommerce. What once was a place where online retailers bought gobs of PPC ads, cornered the market on display inventory and tried to outwit Google for rankings, is over-shadowed by laser-focus on AOV, LTV, COA and CPM.

Branding

This is the first step towards getting yourself noticed. The right branding efforts are vital to create a reputation of your portal in terms of reliability. The Logo plays an important role in the online branding process. A unique and catchy logo creates an instant connect with the clients, making them identify with your business. The design stage is critical for any eCommerce portal where efforts towards making the right Logo that catches the eye and gets etched in the memory must be created. Additionally, right branding campaign needs to be undertaken over various channels in order to familiarize your target audience with your business logo. The website with your logo then becomes the face of your business online, and people will actually connect more to the Logo rather than the firm itself. That is a sign of success.

Attention

There are millions of online stores currently vying to catch the attention of the buyer. In such an environment, it becomes imperative that you devise means of grabbing the attention and making the client stay on your site. This can be achieved through a variety of means. Innovation is the key to really stay in focus in cyber world. Creating competitions and announcing give-aways is a proven technique of turning heads. Freebies are yet another way of getting customers pulled to your site. Astonishing deals and free delivery can make people decide faster when they are browsing through any shopping portal. If you can convince the visitor that he gets a better deal with you irrespective of the season or location then the chances of holding his attention for longer are high. Social media is a powerful tool when it comes to getting attention for your eCommerce site. Creating a large fan following and having regular product and event updates at the more popular sites is being employed by most of the online stores currently.

Products

This forms the core your business plan. Despite all other efforts at marketing the portal, it is the product that ultimately matters in the long term. Product quality is not the only thing that matters anymore. The online shopper wants the best range with the latest upgrades available at all times. Due to the peculiar nature of online shopping where variety is almost endless and new updates are placed online every hour, your site will have to cater to the dynamic world of eCommerce. This is an ongoing process and cannot be overlooked at any stage of your business plan. Manufacturers are quick to advertise their latest releases, and you will have to match up by having those prominently displayed in order to satisfy the ever growing demands of the online shopper. Director of Marketing for Sevenly, Justin Palmer, stated the following,

I believe one of the biggest sins in web design is promoting mission-critical products and promotions only on the homepage. I typically see sites where an email signup or free shipping promotion is highlighted only on the homepage. This is a tragedy.

Convenience

User experience at any online shopping portal has been proven to be a decisive factor in its success. A cleverly designed web store will engage with the visitor giving him a pleasant experience which is conducive for the buying decision. This largely depends on the kind of web design that you have undertaken. The layout, graphics, navigation etc, count towards the overall experience on any site. The quality of content in the product descriptions and its presentation on the page vis-a-vis the product itself can influence the decision of the shopper hugely. Placement of the search box, log in button and the shopping cart are essential to make it easy to shop at your portal. The payment systems button and options must be placed conveniently so as not to lose a single purchase decision.

Support

With options galore the success of any store online also depends on the kind of support that it can provide to its customers. The support functions include consignment tracking, complaint handling and any other kind of response mechanism which directly leads to customer satisfaction. This can do more damage if not catered for than wrong deliveries or poor a quality product.

The customer today wants to be heard. Ongoing support builds up a favorable market buzz about your site. Having customer support available 24/7 with special hotlines and chat facilities will ensure that not a single customer is left unsatisfied whatever the query may be. All contact options must be clearly and prominently displayed on the site in order to help a client easily get in touch with a representative. John Lowe, Senior Manager within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Retail Practice, predicts that,

By focusing on speed, accuracy, network design, automation, SKU proliferation and reverse logistics, retailers can implement sales fulfillment strategies that anticipate and exceed consumer demands.

Credibility

Another issue pertaining to online shopping is the trustworthiness of the payment options. Most people hesitate to put in their card details online. Your site must have all the trustmarks of reputed agencies such as Geotrust, Verisign, Truste, McAfee and BBB etc, which must be displayed in order to give the customer a sense of security while placing an order and making the online payment. The world of eCommerce is evolving everyday with several new innovations, making the online shopping experience better for the customers.

E-mail marketing has fast become one of the most convenient and at the same time, annoying methods of advertisement that the internet has brought to life. If you know how to properly use this tool to your advantage, and you’re not one to over-think or abuse the privilege that comes along with access to your client’s confidential contact information then using e-mail marketing can be extremely successful. Similarly, if you’re misusing or simply not knowledgeable in how to properly utilize this form of marketing than you may want to read on, and view five common mistakes to avoid.

Too Much Contact

An obvious mistake that many marketers use is sending out too many e-mails to their client base. It can be difficult to gage how many is too many, especially as new sales are likely emerging daily, and you want to move products fast. The problem is that if a potential buyer is receiving too many e-mails in their inbox then they’re likely to cancel their subscription to your letter, and then you’re back at square one. Kim LaChance Shandrow of Entrepreneur writes:

Let your subscribers decide how often they’ll receive emails from you from the get-go, Harbison advises. You can do this by allowing them to choose if they’d like to get messages from you daily, weekly or monthly when they subscribe via your online signup form.

Many sites now offer the ability to regulate contact on a customer to customer basis; this way people who enjoy a daily message including deals and sales can still receive them, while those who only wish to be contacted weekly or monthly won’t have to skim through your contacts whenever they look at their inbox. The key is to keep your shoppers interested, without annoying them, or your marketing concepts will turn into junk mail, rather than a convenient marketing tool.

An Inability To Reply

One thing that customer’s seem to dislike is an inability to contact a company back directly from an e-mail. Receiving something that says “do not reply” gives off an image of instability and might even make your company seem untrustworthy. People are comforted in knowing that they can get in touch with the makers of an item they’re buying if something goes wrong with it, and they don’t want to have to hunt down the location of your website and contact information through other means. Steven MacDonald of Super Office suggests:

No-reply@ or DoNotReply@ sender email addresses are uninviting and unwelcome. If you send an email from one of those email addresses, don’t be surprised if your open rate is low.

Allowing customers to reply directly to confirmation of orders and shipments will give them peace of mind, even if they never need to use this ability. It helps to use one form of e-mail contact for all communications with clients, whether you’re shipping, or advertising; this way there’s no confusion on which address to use for what kind of problem or question. Some companies use a drop down menu for their e-mail subjects, which allow buyers to inform them what the issue at hand is so that the e-mail can be sent to the right department when it comes time to deal with it. You may have to work through a few different concepts before you find a method that works for you.

Image Only E-mails

The problem with an image only e-mail is that some images aren’t compatible with all mobile phones and tablets. It’s great for the customers who check communications from a laptop or home computer, but not convenient for those who work mostly from a smart phone. Emailonacid.com asks:

Now that 64 percent of decision makers read their email on their mobile device (TopRankBlog), do you need any more reasons to ensure your emails are mobile friendly?

If you’re not willing to forgo the image only advertisement for aesthetic reasons then try including a regular format as well, or a types e-mail including the same information with a link to a mobile site where the image might be viewed better through a cellular device. If you do want to update your format there are plenty of informative websites with tutorials and information on how to set up image and text files to be more compatible with phones. Sometimes all that needs to be done is a little resizing on the graphic so that it fits better on a small screen, other times you may need to reformat the entire ad.

Marketing To A Generalized Demographic

Sending the same e-mail with the same subject line to all of your customers can be futile if you sell a large range of products to a variety of different ages and occupations. There’s no point in advertising medical equipment to teenagers, just as it would seem unlikely that an adult professional would care much for a bracelet beading set. Dot Mailer says:

Why send 5000 un-targeted emails and only get a 10% response when you can take your time, find your market, and send 2000 emails with 50% response rate?

There are ways to separate customers based on their previous experience at your online store or business. Using this kind of information to your advantage can be the difference between pulling in more sales, and finding your message in a recycling bin. Nobody likes bringing home flyers that have unimportant or unnecessary items in them, so make sure that you’re marketing to the right demographic when you send to increase your success rate.

Outdated or Unappealing Images

One major flaw that some e-mail marketers make is using old or unappealing images in their e-mail as filler. Of course you want to utilize all available space on a page, and pictures will draw in a customer visually, but you should always use up to date and relevant photos if you’re going to involve images at all. This can relate to the above topic of providing information to the right demographic; you want the entire e-mail to flow and be catered to a particular style or group, and this requires research where the photos are concerned as well.

When it comes to retail, the industry is a constant ripple of ups and downs between success and failure where income is concerned. The economy is in such a state that it can be a volatile time to go into business for yourself, or open a store, even online. This is why knowing how to properly market your goods is absolutely crucial to the longevity of whatever project you’re undergoing, and it’s important to take the right steps in advertising to not only get noticed but keep people coming back and spreading reviews by word of mouth.

Make Recommendations In Reviews

Although there are ways to purchase packages of reviews for products on sites like amazon, this practice isn’t always honest and if you were caught doing so it could jeopardize the integrity of your store or items being sold. One alternative you can try, though it may take some time and effort, is creating your own reviews or recommendations for your product by leaving a trail of theoretical breadcrumbs through other product reviews. Keith Patrick of Chron writes:

Many users read reviews of an Amazon product before purchasing and writing a review of a product similar to the one you’re promoting can be solid exposure.

If you’ve used a product, or even see a product that might be worth trying and it can be related to what you’re selling in any way, make it a point to write a comment about that item with a link back to your own merchandise. People shopping around looking for similar items can take advantage of this information and find your store without as much trouble.

Utilize Social Media

This is an obvious one and has been talked about so much lately on many marketing and advertising help websites, but the success speaks for itself. Utilizing any social networking site these days is a sure fire way to get your product a little recommendation. The more followers you can find, the more hits you’ll find your store or product listing obtaining, especially if people being “liking” or “sharing” to further endorse your merchandise. Make sure that your page is clear, shows an up to date attractive photo of what is being sold, and gives easy to follow steps on purchasing. You can create contests on your page to promote feedback and likes, suggesting that a random reviewer will be selected to win free merchandise.

Pay Per Click

One form of advertising that has been used for quite some time throughout internet operated selling is the pay per click tool. These advertisements can be a little pricier than other methods, but you don’t get charged every time the ad is shown, only when it’s clicked. Each time somebody clicks the advertisement it should redirect them back to your individual shop of product page, allowing them the change for purchase. Armando Roggio of practicalecommerce.com says:

The service is very similar to Google AdWords, but in many ways provides a more targeted audience. Amazon does require some minimum bids for popular categories.

This might not be a good idea if you’re just starting out and might not be getting enough traffic and purchases to support the clicks, but as time goes on this is a good one to keep up momentum.

Blog Widgets

Finally, if you’ve got a blog, or are using the social networking media for advertisement purposes you can add a widget to your site that displays certain products along with pricing to your readers. Blackhatworld.com explains:

Widgets are easily configurable features for your page that allow your viewers to see Amazon content without leaving your website or blog. Handpick your favorite Amazon products, showcase bestsellers or allow us to auto-select products that are relevant to your readers.

This is a great way to show viewers what you’re selling as well as where to find it, and it will spark an interest slightly better than a generalized explanation of what your product is or does.