There are many reasons to have a web site, but here are the main two. They are to keep in contact with your customers and to make extra sales. Internet Sales are growing rapidly and will continue to do so in the future. You are going to lose some sales to the internet, so why not take advantage and increase your sales and profits at a low cost to you. If you have a brick and mortar small business, you should have a web site.

Your customers are still looking for you online, even if they have no intent of buying from you online. They want to know your hours, your phone number, you product lines and anything else about your small business that might make them just a bit more confident about getting in the car and driving to your small business. Many people look on the internet before the yellow pages for information on a business.

You do not need to sell anything to have a web site. Having nformation about your small business is an excellent reason to have a web site. You can list your products, small business hours, policies, location, sales, new arrivals, services and more.

You may decide the primary purpose of your site is to drive customers to your brick-and-mortar small business front. You can carry out this with a simple one-page site and intelligent use of online newsletters, coupons, and promotions.

If you are trying to build brand awareness, though, your site might need a much more substantial design, deeper content, and a well developed online advertising plan.

Consider the Dynamics in a Small Business front 

A customer walks into the small business, browses through products and shelves, picks up items and looks at them, considers the prices and then chooses a product and takes it to the cash register to pay for the item.

If you are going to sell your products online, you need to provide plenty of content and product description (including sizes, dimensions, colors, and comparisons with similar products). You need to clearly indicate the price and allow your customer to research and choose a shipping method. 

You must tell the customer if the item is in stock or backordered.  Ideally, you should have an e-mail contact or live help if the customer has a question. 

                       E-Commerce Tips 

1. Be sure your customer service links are large, and clearly marked, so your client does not have to dig around to find information.    

2. DO provide an ‘about us’ section or a section about your policies.  If you have privacy statements and customer satisfaction policies, your customer will feel better about shopping in your small business.

3. You probably want customer quotes and references on the small business front page, as well, to let your prospective client know that others are happy with your service. 

4. Provide a FAQ with information about your return policies, shipping prices and insurance charges if they apply. 

5. Do not irritate your customers by presenting products that are marked ‘sold’ or pages that say ‘under construction’ or ‘coming soon’. 

6. DO add new content often, so your returning customers will not be bored by seeing the same products they saw four months ago. 

7. If your site is dated or has current references, be careful to change these references often so you do not give the opinion that your site is gathering dust.

8. Do not collect more personal information than you need to process the order.

9. You have to provide Secure Socket Layering (SSL) on your payment page so your customer’s private data is encrypted and cannot be stolen by a hacker. 

10. Remember to serve a ‘redirect’ page after your customer completes the order, to let them know the order has been confirmed and their credit card has been charged. 

11. Give an invoice or purchase order number they can reference if they have questions on order status. 

12. The key to selling is a quick loading site with good content. Fancy graphics may look nice, but many a web site has it on its home page. If you want a fancy presentation, put it elsewhere on your site. Common mistake made by web designers and business owners is the use of frames and FLASH programming. Using frames is a way to segment data and content and make it easy to read, but many search engines do not read content that is inside a frame. 

           13. Place a link on your site to invite your customers to ‘opt in’ to get a monthly newsletter or valuable coupons. You can use services such as:

http://www.aweber.com

to capture a customer’s e-mail address.

           14. NEVER spam a client with e-mail, even if you have their e-mail address.  If they have registered for a newsletter or for special sales announcements and they decide they want to ‘opt out’ of the mailings, be sure you provide an easy way for them to get off your mailing list. 

15.Let all your customers know that you have a web site. Let them know what is on your site. It could be on a simple business card with info about your web site or print out about ¼ page of info and cut and hand to your customers. Window sign would be another choice also.

Internet sales are increasing rapidly and if gas prices keep going up, you could capitalize in this area. It is not hard to produce a web site. No matter what, you are losing some sales to the internet now.

16. Show your mailing list that you are an expert. Often, it is better to soft sell your services and products.

17. Time sensitive offers to your web site will result in more sales. Must try to get as many people to your web site or your mailing list. Growing your mailing list will help reduce advertising costs.

18. Putting audio / video on a web site can be an excellent way to drive traffic to the website. It can be info about the small business, explain your products or services, or more detailed product information for your customers.