familiarize you with the major players in Canadian e-commerce. Their mention here is not an endorsement from either myself, JMR, the city or nGen. Make no business decisions without doing your homework first.
verify your eligibility. 2. ONE will follow up with you to review your market opportunity and goals. Together you develop a plan of action, opportunities and challenges.
online is far more vital than the mechanics of how people pay you. When it comes time to graduate from using system X to system Y, people will follow you.
a marketing plan. How are people going to find out about your e-business? What of value are you going to bring them on an ongoing basis? Think about this first.
of web business models here. That is, sites that offer content for free and make money serving ads to the audience. Since we don’t want to be here until 9 PM, we’ll just talk traditional “money for products” commerce.
of money happens either offline or at a fully managed 3rd party online (Amazon, iTunes Store). Fully managed? It’s not your store. You’re a product on their shelves.
pay you online for a product or service. While there are many options for HOW to accept payments, the brunt of the work is on you. You fulfill orders. You issue refunds. You set pricing and inventory.
There’s narrative flow which humanizes the ongoing story of the company 2. They’re posted at a regular interval (the size of the interval matters less than the consistency) 3. They’re of singular topics with clear structure (“Top 5 things...”)
media profiles. You want to provide strong Calls To Action between your blog and your website / store to direct consumers to that destination. Promotional Material
References and portfolio. Existing online sites they’ve had a hand in building which you can explore on your own. Confirmation of what they did on those sites (art, functionality).
Is a Content Management System is being used. You should to be able to modify text, images and other day-to-day operational items yourself without having to pay a developer for each change.
Will you have access to the source code? Are you able to take your website, along with the source code for any custom components or artwork, to another developer? Are you locked in?
What are the costs for changes after launch? What hosting arrangements are possible? Is there an ongoing maintenance service available? Will the site be backed up regularly and if so how?
developer should meet with you regularly to discuss site navigation, future content requirements and design. Never write a cheque and let a developer disappear until your site is ready.
the reputation and past clientele of the developer. No two sites are the same and custom costs will vary depending on what features you prioritize. Ask about best practices for nonstandard features. Promotional Material
inventory / shopping cart system you use as your business scales up. If you’re starting out, determine your appetite for risk. You may want to work on the reputation of the brand and go for a lower upfront cost system initially. Catalogue / Inventory
cart, inventory control, with customizable design you can match to your website. Built in mobile support. Lots of plug-ins and add-ons SSL / PCI. Catalogue / Inventory Options
traditional bank merchant account, but that may require fees, minimum monthly sales and credit checks. Online payment gateways may have higher per-trans fees but may not require the background checks.
payments. They communicate with Visa, Mastercard, etc. Even if you process cards on-site you NEVER want customers to email you card numbers. Online customers expect to pay online.
user it’s seamless. They never leave your website. Service has a subscription cost plus a fee based on sales. Approval required. Payment Gateway Options
ahead and start working before you get the site roughly defined on paper first. Walk through how the site will work. Don’t force your contractors to make assumptions about your product.
and walk through some usage scenarios. Speak your thought process. “so I want to buy an item... first I click here... then...” Test at this stage when it’s less expensive.
on the site will have design consequences. Work through your site navigation hierarchy on paper (I prefer Post Its) in a collaborative session with your stakeholders and developer.
with fully finished designs before you’ve approved the overall direction. Rough designs, on paper on screen, called wireframes should help you finalize the idea.
easy to understand and explore. A big current trend is for developers to use the constraints of mobile phone screen sizes to help them narrow down which options are REALLY important.
powerful than desktop computers and require design that is mobile-usable. This means Flash, sound, video and animation should only be used for accent, not navigation. Mouse-hover effects similarly won’t work on a touch interface.
should be a clear and easy to find call to action which may be making a purchase, signing up for a list, etc. It is the “above all else, do this” button, and it should always be visible.
ignorance of site owners of how Google works. They may be able to game Google for a time, but how long will their results last? There are no guarantees and potential consequences.
Google” for a given search term. Google sorts it’s list based on relevance but ALSO the searcher’s geographic location, past user history and linked social media activity.
(particularly if you’re logged in to your Google account at the time) is not necessarily what someone else sees. Your best measurement of success is actual metrics from your website, not anecdotal searching.
Google. Follow their best practices guide before ever bringing in paid SEO services. No 3rd party company has any access to manipulate Google’s results.
visually impaired person with a screen reader. It doesn’t see images, Flash animation, or text embedded into images. Test your site with a text-only browser: http://www.w3.org/services/html2txt
ranking. As in the red shoes example, having a page that’s specifically geared to the keyword you’re targeting can help raise your relevancy and lower your costs.
the ads are socially integrated into Facebook. Facebook’s market of 800 million users can be targeted with more precision because they offer up their demographic information freely.
your business, but because of your passions. When your passions align with your business the social media audience comes associate your good reputation with your business.
brand with you, or without you. At this stage your role becomes one of customer service. Listen for relevant conversations and respond to them publicly.
campaign. You can do both and will likely want pro help to organize and measure a campaign. Goals and ROI metrics are great, but you need to learn what you’re paying for before you get to that stage
must be... • Collected for identifiable purposes with consent • Used and disclosed only for that reason • Accurate • Accessible or inspection and correction • Safeguarded
what you do with information and what your users consent to. Not legally enforceable as a contract, but useful for certain regulations that require you to post notice.
adamwhite
signer
asial_corp
naradai
yasslab
nonxxxizm
jamashita
nagisa53
matleenalaakso
pedronauck
jeffersonlam
productmarketing
holman
eileencodes
geoffreycrofte
samlambert
bryan
smashingmag
moore
chriscoyier
