A couple weeks ago I touched on the complaint that many retailers feel they have nothing to sell online through a distributors feed on their website. I think I proved that simply is not and should not be an excuse. I wanted to take the time to expand on that with another idea. I have no doubt that you brick & mortar store owners and probably a hand full of the virtual store owners have piles of products lying around that are collecting dust. There is a certain “big box” retailer out there that sells these oddball misc. items on-line in their “Bargain Cave” section. This is a brilliant idea. First of all it gives you a chance to sell off some items that have been setting on your shelves for years. Secondly with a well written product description page on these items you can help expand and tune your sites SEO. These products along with your descriptions and images will add to your sites unique content which we all know shows favorably in the all seeing eyes of Google. So in one shot you can sell off some old inventory, optimize your site and make a few bucks in the process. I can’t possibly see how this would not be something you would want to do. If you need a little refresher course in uploading your own products to one of our sites please give my support team a call at 1-800-699-0820 ext 2.
They say the key to any good healthy relationship is communication. I could not agree more with this statement. Many of you may not look at the retail store owner to customer as a relationship but it most certainly is just that. Like any other relationship these also require time, effort and most importantly COMMUNICATION. It is far too easy for E-commerce store owners to silently hide behind the digital wall that is their website and not acknowledge a customer’s concerns. How many of you have had this scenario play out where the customer ordered a product through your website only to find out it is no longer in stock. This is a prime opportunity to reach out to a customer and see if you can help meet or possibly exceed their needs in another way. E-mail them or even better call them up. Thank them for their business and offer them a viable alternative. Maybe you will sell them something else and maybe you won’t. What is important here is you will be showing them a higher level of customer service than most see in dealing with web based businesses and you are building that relationship. In taking that little time out you will be giving the customer a positive view of yourself and your store. You will also be given the opportunity to showcase your knowledge of the products being sold in turn building that ever elusive customer confidence. This all goes a long ways the next time they are surfing the web looking to make their next purchase. I will go a step further on the topic. Let’s say you are late in delivering a package to a customer or for one reason or another it will not be there at all. Do not under any circumstances make your customer wonder what is going on and make them contact you as a result…trust me they will be upset with you at this point. The better mindset or approach is “bad news is still better than no news”. If you are proactive and contact the customer first and give them honest information you will serve yourself well in the ways of damage control. Things do go wrong or change from time to time and people understand that much better if you are upfront about it in the first place. Remember everyone has a voice on the internet these days and if you don’t communicate with your customers they will “communicate” about their experience on every social media, forum and blog outlet they can get their hands on. So speak up and reach out to your customers and let them know you care. Good communication can help preserve and grow your business to new heights.
Folks I simply had to touch on this. The past few months the number one bit of feedback (complaints) is that the distributors have no product for them to sell. I ask. What products are you specifically referring to? The overwhelming response is firearms, ammo & magazines. Every customer I talk to repeat this to me over and over. Now I am no fool and understand all too well what is happening right now in our industry. I also understand that there is a definite shortage if you will on those for mentioned products. Here is the major news flash many retailers are missing. THOSE ARE NOT THE ONLY ITEMS THE DISTRIBUTORS CARRY FOR YOU TO SELL!!! The major distributors carry and currently stock tens of thousands of items for the outdoor sports and shooting industries. I know it isn’t the fun stuff like a Sig Equinox or a box of PMags but it is a bunch of stuff consumers want and need. Many of these items are consumables that will be re-ordered from time to time. As a retailer it is your job to show case all these other products. Let’s take for an example a lot of guns have been bought out there and no doubt a bunch where first time gun owners. These people will need all the usual cleaning accessories, targets, hearing protection, gun oils & lubes, bi-pods, shooting rests, belts, holsters etc. The veteran gun owners will need, sights, tools, parts, spacers, grips, just to name a few. The simple fact is there are way more items to sell than to not sell. I have customers who have truly embraced this mindset and have learned with our help to market and sell a ton of these “forgotten” products. These customers have shown growth in a time when others are stuck wallowing in mediocrity. To survive and do well in any industry you must adapt and overcome with the changing times. As always contact our sales department to learn more. 1-800-699-0820 ext. 1
Here is a list of some of the things Google loves to see. This is by no means all inclusive but it serves as a good guide of some things we feel are important to getting found out there in the World Wide Web. For more information on how to utilize these concepts please email or give us a call.
1) Google loves video. Video is a definitely a trend we are seeing to promote products, goods and services. Keep in mind that Google owns YouTube so that can bode well for search results
2) Google loves to see Google analytics in place and that your site is being monitored from time to time. In the e-tail world though you should be in there many times a day.
3) Google rewards real time updates through social media outlets such as Twitter and Face Book. Relevant links and keywords to your site are what is key here.
4) Google maps can be a good thing on your site too. This is particularly important when it comes to driving your target audience to a physical store location
5) Google loves a blog. This is another great way to tie in links and keywords with your site.
6) Google loves content. Not just any content but new and fresh content. Changing up a news section on your home page from time to time is a good thing. You may also want to consider adding some downloadable content perhaps in PDF format to allow users easy access to information.
7) Google loves tags. Well written keyword infused meta descriptions will serve you well when your site is being crawled for pertinent content.
8) Google loves links. Many text based links over time in a consistent manner are an important piece of the Google puzzle. Getting other reputable sites to link to yours is a huge advantage.
9) Google loves traffic. As I said in a past blog. Traffic is rewarded. Getting that traffic there in the first place is the challenge but once it is Google recognizes and rewards the effort.
10) Google likes consistency in your site. Ensure all your links go somewhere as broken links are simply put bad.
What is the number one thing an e-commerce website needs in order to be successful? The simple answer is “Traffic”. Without traffic you have nothing. You have no data to measure your success otherwise. I say this because if you have a pile of traffic you have useful data that can be used to determine the performance of your marketing efforts within your site. So you see without the traffic there in the first place you have nothing to go on. So if you want more on-line sales you absolutely must have the traffic coming to your site. Still not convinced? I took a random sampling of 12 of our clients. This sampling consisted of clients who have been on board from 7-27 months. What I found was a trend that simply cannot be denied. The chart below shows the actual numbers of this sample group. So once again traffic is the name of the game when it comes to success in e-commerce.
So of course the next question is usually this: How do I get traffic to my site in the first place? The answer to that is as broad as the question is. If you really want to know more I suggest reading our BLOG and of course calling us in the first place to answer your questions.
I understand a lot has been written about marketing your e-commerce storefront. Hundreds and thousands of tips and tricks are on the internet and just as many “experts” touting their services as the best to give you Amazonian like status in the Google rankings.. With all that is out there many of you refuse to accept the fact that you actually have to market your website to make it successful. The blame is shifted to a lack of product availability or perhaps a down economy. We the reality is more than likely it comes down to one simple thing and that is traffic. Traffic is the number one measure we use to evaluate a given websites success. Obviously it goes on from there as far as important metrics but without traffic there is nothing else to measure.
The World Wide Web is a big place. Do you honestly think that some of the huge brands such as Amazon, Ebay, Zappos etc grew successful web based businesses buy simply building a site and turning it on? The answer you should be thinking is a “NO!” These companies have spent 100’s of millions marketing themselves to drive traffic to their respective sites in order to become house hold names. The simple beauty of the internet is that it gives the small to medium size guy a legitimate shot at competing with some of the known big dogs in any given industry. This will not happen for free though. You will spend either time or money to accomplish this and in many cases both. So the question is raised from this….How much is your time worth? You better know the answer to that before saying “I will spend the time and do this myself”. More often than not business owners make the mistake of taking on these types of tasks not factoring in what their time is really worth. Sure it may be “expensive” to hire a company such as Outdoor Business Network to handle your marketing efforts but at what cost is it to your business to have you fooling with marketing and not managing maybe your employees at your brick and mortar or tending to current customers. This also doesn’t factor in that something for a pro marketing agency may only take 3-4 hours to accomplish may end up taking you 30, 40 or more hours for the same task. These are things you need to ask yourself.
Still don’t think you need to market your website. Let me paint this picture. You have just built the most beautiful brick and mortar storefront known to man. The location however has it in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere USA. There are no roads leading to this store whatsoever. Now remember it is an amazing store and people WILL buy if they go there. In order for your store to be successful you need people or traffic coming through the doors correct. The fastest way to do this is run a major highway right by this store for all that drives by to see. People will stop and they will shop and if it is a positive experience they will tell others all about this amazing store. Over time you will have built up enough word of mouth advertising you may be able to expand into some paid advertising. Your website works in the exact same way. You have to build traffic buy building paths or routes to your store through various digital marketing efforts. It does work however it does take time, patience and effort. If you want it to work faster then it will of course take real dollars to make that happen.
So my advice is simple. Start small if you absolutely have to but by all means start somewhere. Success rarely happens overnight and even less often happens without effort. Give us a call if you would like to learn more about our marketing programs and how to better present your website.
E-commerce and fraud go hand in hand. There are dishonest people out there trying to beat the system or even going as far as aiding terrorist groups abroad. This blog will cover some “red flags” to watch for when processing your orders on your e-commerce website. I will go over the things that we look for as warnings that something may be amiss. I know it’s exciting to get a stack of orders in on your site but you need to be vigilant at this time and carefully screen them. If you ship out a fraudulent order or have it drop shipped from your distributor there is most likely no turning back and it will only be a matter of time before the true card holder charges back the order. You will be left with no product and having to refund the money and will still get billed by your distributor. That is bad and can be a killer for a small business. Here are some things to look for below that could be considered suspect. This list is by no means all inclusive but it will serve as a good guide. If you are unsure about an order call Outdoor Business Network and/or call your merchant service provider. We will be more than happy to help you research the questioned order.
1) Check Shipping, Billing and Customer addresses.
If you see the discrepancies in addresses call your customer to verify ALL information you have received. I would even go as far as casually asking them perhaps what kind of a firearm they are using a particular item they ordered on. If you are worried about the customer being annoyed they won’t be. Treat it as you are simply looking out for their best interest. They will thank you for this. By doing this and verifying they are who they say they are you will also be building customer loyalty and they will be far more likely to repeat business with you down the road.
2) Let Google & Google maps be your friend.
We use these tools all the time when something seems fishy. We search addresses for a multitude of reasons. One thing happening in the fraud world is items are purchased from a legitimate card unbeknownst to the actual card holder. The Customer and Billing address usually match but the shipping address is different. On several occasions we have found that by searching the shipping address we find that it is some form of mail forwarding service. These “services” many times are involved in terrorist activity overseas. If this scenario arises I advise to not ship that order at all.
3) Expedited or Overnight Shipping.
Yes that is correct. The bad guys have figured that they have a limited window of opportunity to use someone’s ill gotten credit card info before they or the bank figure out what is happening. So with time being a factor they want these things shipped out as soon as possible. If you see the faster shipping charges being used call your customer.
4) Larger than average orders.
If your average order is consistent between $100-$150 and then all of a sudden you get a string of orders for significantly higher amounts that could mean you are being targeted.
5) Orders for several similar or identical items.
In the shooting industry by far the most sought after products when it comes to credit card fraud are scopes and holographic optics. I would call and check on every single one of these. These are definitely the hot product and they definitely do end up in the hands of some very bad people. So when you see orders for a scope and definitely when you see orders for multiple scope/optic type items you will again want to contact your customer.
6) International shipping addresses.
A large number of fraudulent transactions are shipped to international address. As far as the shooting industries being concerned I would almost avoid that all together as many items, such as scopes, are prohibited from being sent out of the country without the proper exporting paperwork. If you are going to get into international shipments be sure to do a ton of research to protect yourself as much as possible.
7) Payments with similar card account numbers.
Many bad card numbers are created through various types of software. These numbers are often similar.
8) Multiple orders shipped to the same address.
If a several different cards are used to ship product to a given address especially in a short period of time this may also be an indicator of fraudulent activity. Again the crooks have a limited time frame to work with so they order as much as they can with as many cards as they can in a short period of time.
9) Multiple shipping addresses.
When a particular card is used to ship to several addresses that may also be cause for alarm.
As far as prevention is concerned you can also do the following things listed
1) Educate yourself and your staff
Many of these things are simple to avoid if the whole team is simply on the same page. As a business owner learn about this stuff and pass that knowledge on to your staff. The time and effort spent will be well worth it.
2) Use a reputable merchant services
Good merchant service providers often have many security tools built into your account. Use them! If you are unsure of who is a quality company to work with OBN is happy to make a recommendation as we work with several trusted entities.
3) Use the card security codes
Card Security Codes help verify that the customer is in a physical possession of a valid card during a card-not-present transaction.
4) Use Address Verification System
This will verify the billing address for the card.
5) Call the payment gateway
When in doubt, you can call the payment gateway and verify everything on the card is on the up-and-up. You can verify the card holders name, address and funds. You pay for a service, make sure you are taking full advantage of it.
Nothing makes us happier than seeing traffic and sales come through your site; just as nothing pains us more than seeing fraudulent orders come through. We want to see you succeed in your business plan. It would be easy to change your website to process orders automatically but that would do nothing to stop fraud and be detrimental to the long term viability of your business. Profitability is the objective but nothing short of due diligence will help you accomplish that goal.
Every company needs an effective logo to represent their branding and provide consumers an easily recognizable graphic representation of the company and it’s core values. Logo’s can become the public face of a business and in examples of extremely effective logo design, can even replace the brand name as the most ubiquitous aspect of a company (see the Nike “Swoosh” or McDonald’s “Golden Arches”). Creating and implementing an effective logo is an essential step in the evolution of any successful retailer.
What is the purpose of a logo?
Logos are an aspect of a company’s branding, they’re used as the graphical representation of a company’s values and goals. Logos are used to identify a particular entity in a sea of competitors, and help to inspire loyalty, trust and admiration among consumers. An effective logo design will help to convey not only what a company does, but what it stands for. Although logos are not generally created to be a salable commodity, it’s not unheard for a great logo to become just that (again, see the Nike “Swoosh”).
What elements make up a good logo?
Generally it’s accepted that there are 5 basic principles that every logo should encompass:
Simple
Memorable
Timeless
Versatile
Appropriate
Simple: Often logos need to communicate both effectively and quickly. Logos need to be as easily recognized by someone speeding by a billboard at 70mph, as they would be by someone watching a 30 second commercial on tv. The key to speedy recognition is simplicity of design; the fewer elements, the easier it is for the viewer to distinguish what he or she is looking at.
Memorable: Of equal importance to the logo being recognized, is the logo’s ability to leave a lasting impression on the viewer. The goal of an effective logo is to create a relationship between a symbol and what it symbolizes, to accomplish this task it must be easily remembered. An effective logo will be easily remembered so that the consumer can easily recognize the symbol of a company and what that company stands for.
Timelessness: In order for a logo to remain memorable it also must remain unchanged. Logos need to be created in such away that allows them to remain relevant even with changes in design aesthetics and popular preferences. Updates are appropriate from time to time, but the general feel of a logo should be created in such a way as to allow for changes in taste without compromising the logos integrity.
Versatile: Logos need to be able to function across a variety of different media and applications. For instance an ideal logo would look good on a website header, plastered on a billboard, or stitched into a company t-shirt. An effective logo should look as good in black and white as it does in color. Ideally logos should be created in vector graphics format. Vector graphics scale to any size and can be enlarged or shrunk to fit any application without a loss of quality.
Appropriate: The effective logo needs to take into account the audience it is hoping to capture and be appropriately designed with the intended viewers in mind. This isn’t to say that every logo for a gun store needs to have a firearm in the design, however if you’re intended audience is the recreational hunter you may want to include camouflage or a deer, where as a company going after tactical sales may want to include carbon fiber or soldier silhouette in the design.
What does good logo design cost?
The cost of logo design can vary greatly depending on the needs of client. How many logo concepts need to be presented? How many rounds of revisions are included in the design quote? What type of finished files are required, .pdf, .eps, .png, .jpg? Large companies have spent millions of dollars on logo design and implementation. OBN offers logo design packages starting at $499 that include multiple design concepts, one round of revisions, and final image outputs in several formats including scalable vector graphics.
To wrap up or blog series on utilizing the values of brick and mortar retail in your online store, we are going to cover that basics of marketing your site the same way you would if you owned a storefront. Many people assume that they can simply purchase a website, get it online and then the customer will just flock there and start buying. These assumptions can lead people to failure when they do not properly market their sites or put time and money into hiring professionals to do so.
To build a successful website, marketing should be divided into two main groups. There is user-specific marketing to customers, which includes social media, e-mail marketing and original content on your site. This is important because it will build your credibility within the eyes of your customers and ensure return shopping. Marketing this way is building the image you will portray to your customers and potential shoppers. User-specific marketing has the main goal of being interactive and informative for your customers. It should include any information pages that a customer would use on your site, video clips, product reviews and any other unique content that makes the user experience on your site easier.
Then, there is the SEO/PPC marketing aspect. This marketing is in place to boost your search engine results, whether they are organic or paid. User-specific marketing is the trend in the industry right now and search engines seem to favor original content, however, to properly market your website your strategy needs to encompass both of these tactics. You want to develop a strong brand with your customers but you also need to be doing SEO and PPC marketing to reach out to new clients.
Next in our series we will go over the ways in which you can merchandise your online store to suit the needs of your customers and get their return business. Generally, retail stores change their visual merchandising once a month – sometimes more if there are specific promotions that they need to do a floor change for. This is helpful advice to online retailers, as your online store should also be re-merchandised on a regular basis.
Think of your brick and mortar store or the last time you visited a retail store. The products in the store are going to be organized and displayed in a manner that provokes the customer to shop and to buy. If it was a pet store, for example, there would be different areas for dogs and cats and fish set up so that customers would know to go to a specific part of the store to find what they are looking for. Your ecommerce site should also accomplish this by categorizing and organizing your products in a way that makes sense to you and your customers. You wouldn’t want someone to click on a link for dogs and end up with aquariums and hamster food.
Aside from organizing your products in a shopable manner, you’re going to want to update this merchandising on a regular basis. You don’t have to change your entire product arrangement every month, but you should be conscious of your featured products and specials. These things need to be updated so that customers get a sense of new and exciting offers and items when they visit your site. If you can keep a customer engaged when they come to your store, you can get their return business instead of a one-time shopper.
