The internet is full of niche markets. I'm not talking about all the different things being sold, i'm talking about all the b2b people and services who power everything being sold. Many sites hire 'experts' and 'strategists' who are as specialized as an F-16 pilot. In reality, most of these guys are making a boat load of money by being out-going and knowing just a little bit about something you know nothing about. To tell the truth, chances are your 12 year old daughter probably knows more about Facebook than half these 'experts'.

 These guys go from market to market as the fads change. Last week it was myspace and digg, this week Facebook and Twitter. I'd be willing to guess tomorrow will still be Facebook, but twitter will be as dead as the steak i had for dinner and something new and fresh and innovative will be around. 

These guys are fad-chasers. Just like ambulance chasers, they ride the wave until it's gone, then hop on the next one. Today they preach the joys of Facebook, tomorrow social shopping. 

The tough guys to find are the steady guys. The guys like myself who pride themselves on being versatile and full of a wide range of knowledge. I manage Adwords campaigns with 7% CTRs, a Facebook page with a post quality score of 18.5% (whatever that means though i'm seeing people online proud of 5%) and an e-commerce site that makes more than yours. I manage SEO campaigns, usability studies, and customer feedback surveys. I design system platforms and backend user interfaces to streamline business functions. All of this, I do better than the guy who can be hired in a niche market to teach you nothing but that one thing.

The secret to my success? Simple. My overview of the entire landscape makes me the general on the battlefield. However I'm no ordinary general. I've spent time in every area of combat possible. I've been in the trenches, I've flown the fighters and bombers, I've gone on the black ops, and I've driven the tanks. I've done it all and done it all well. 

This makes myself, and guys like myself, the threat your competition is scared you'll hire. It also makes me more valueable than any one guy because i don't focus on a little portion of your plan, i write your plan and focus on the entire thing. This is the secret to successful e-commerce, not one silver bullet, but an large plan that uses every avenue possible.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, Americans partake in a ritual that involves death and destruction in the name of cheap specials. It's Black Friday, and it's the time of year to get gifts at cheap for you and yours.

The following Monday, online retailers gear up for the follow up to Black Friday; Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday is billed as the busiest online shopping day of the year. However, as many of others in the industry know, it's far from it. The actual busiest day of the year comes the Monday of the last full week before Christmas; which is in about three weeks. 

Cyber Monday is still very inoportanrt. Sure, it may not be the busiest day of the year, but it does kick off the busiest season of the year. From now until around early March, sales will be the largest of the year. This is obviously because of Christmas and the the follow-up returns, gift card cash ins, and fixing broken items. Cyber Monday is the D-Day of online retailers.

 E-mails with specials will be sent out. Catelogs will be hitting mailboxes, mailing lists will be bought, invetory will get low, and the money will role in. You've gotta love the holidays.

With this unstable economy, the shops with the better sales are the ones who charge a bit less. Free shipping helps and a strong brand image couldn't hurt either. Remember, while Christmas is normally a time of giving, budgets are tight and people aren't giving all they used to. Make sure consumers find the best deals on the best products, and make sure they find them with you.

Time to hit the office and run some more numbers. Catch you on the flip side.

-Jeff

 Everyone is familiar with the old phrase "shot yourself in the foot." This is all too common in business today whether we are talking about a web site or an airline.

The foot shot, as I like to call it, usually comes from good intentions. However, those intentions are usually internal. They are one of those things where you think something you do is for the good of the company when in the end, it turns out to be a PR mess and might involve a lot of lawyers. Eww.

A classic example of the foot shot was done by American Airlines. They have shot themselves in the foot by over-protecting their trademark. A few years ago, Americantook issue with flight simulators. Not the games themselvs, but the community that supports them. For all of you not crazy about Flight Simulator, planes can be added to the game. To do this, developers (who are usually guys in their basement in their spare time), create the own planes on the computer and then upload them to various web sites for people to download for free or for a little money. Part of this process involves  making a paint scheme or "Livery" for the aircraft. In the hunt for realism, people paint the planes like actual planes such as American Airlines paint scheme or United's paint scheme.

Well, despite the fact that people were just replicating planes for personal amusement, AA was not to happy. They sent cease and desist letters to developers and sites all over the net.  Eventually, all AA planes were no where to be found on the net. What this cause was a backlash in  the flight sim community. It also created less brand awareness. After all, flight sim guys need to take trips on commercial jets too. 

Next thing you know, when you go hunt for that 747 for flight sim, you can get in as United, TWA, all the others, buyt not AA. Suddenly, AA realized that they made a big mistake now allow developers to make their planes with certain guidelines. 

 The second strike against AA was the lawsuit against Google. It was over the use of Google Adwords and the fact that Google would allow people to buy "American Airlines" as a keyword for ads. AA didn't like this and sued. They settled out of court and the settlement is confidential, but I can tell you, try a search for American Airlines on Google, no ads on the side. 

Where this hurt AA is with brand awareness and sales. You do a search for AA you get AA, you do a search for United, you get United and a bunch of places offering cheap fares on United. Same with AirTran and any other carrier. AA made the mistake of forcing outlets of theirs from advertising on them thus lowering ticket sales. They have shot themselves in the foot.

  In E-commerce and other sites, many things done intentially have adverse affects. Not the least of which is a long and obtrusive checkout process. A study recently publishedshows that 87% of people have had bad online ordering experiences. Forcing a login, not tracking transactions, making it confusing, not displaying the rules, are all things that shoot you in the foot. Maybe the site looks better, but at what expense? Maybe the site collects better data, but at what expense?

 Other shots in the foot include allowing for a lower quality of service onlne because you can't get internal processes figured out. It's lowering user experience in exchange for more cross-selling, and it's never having stock because you never get enough to fulfill orders. There are hundreds of things you can do to get a nice foot shot. Remember, in the end it all comes down to doing what benifits the consumer, not your company.

Trust is a funny thing. It's somewhat easy to gain the first time, but really hard (if not impossible) to get back if you lose it.

On the internet, trust is what makes someone purchase with you the first time. If you do everything correctly that first time, it's really hard to lose that trust. Simply put, they place an order, you communicate a lot through emails about that order, ship it promptly, it arrives well packed and as the customer expects.You have now gained a customer.

The thing about trust on the internet is that it does not rest in actively "trust" related things.  These active things are showing the online BBB logo, the SSL logo, HackerSafe, etc. Most savvy shoppers don't put to much stock in these items. They are all easy to get with a small fee. In fact, the only one i feel is worth while is the HackerSafe logo. This is because HackerSafe implies in it's title "we're safe from hackers." The fact of the matter is they are just PCI certified which all sites that accept credits cards on the internet are required to be.This is just really good marketing.

The main thing people use to trust you is the look and feel of your site. It also comes down to the small features you offer such as order tracking, showing order status online, and regular emails such as; when the order has been confirmed, when your credit card has been charged, and when the order has shipped.

But those items are fairly standard in even open-source ecommerce platforms. Let's talk about design and layout. Below, I have three competing web sites. I have personally purchased from all three. They sell disc jockey equipment which is a hobby of mine if you couldn't already tell.

1. http://www.123dj.com/
2. http://www.cheaplights.com/
3. http://www.pssl.com/

As you can see, the first two are very amateur looking. However, due to cheap prices, i purchased from both of them. I had good ordering experience so I will order again. However, the third one, the one that looks the best, I ordered from first. Only price and selection drove me to the other two otherwise it would be PSSL all the way. The look and professional feel got me to pay more for the security to know i wasn't being screwed. The item i ordered was in stock, and shipped quickly. The other ones it was like rolling the dice.

So here are my rules for being trustworthy the first time:

1. Good Looking Design
2. Plenty of product information
3. Great account section tied in closely with your ERP and warehouse system for easy order tracking.
4. Useful and professional looking features.
5. Ample ways for the customer to contact you
6. Quick response times on all emails
7. Sales staff knowledgeable of the web site and all company policies(after all, they are the first line of defense)
8. Professionalism
   

Simply put, caring about your customer and their experience more than the company bottom line and the rest will fall into place. The more you care, the more they buy. The more transparent and accessible you are, the more they trust you. Lose that trust, good luck getting them back.