Building on what we discussed previously in "5 Important Questions to Ask Before Starting an eCommerce Blog" I would like to offer some suggestions for developing news worthy blog topics.

The most important thing to consider when formulating your posts is your audience.  Ask yourself who am I writing this for?  It should be the same people that visit your eCommerce site to make purchases.  Not everyone that stops by your eCommerce site is an expert, so don’t alienate anyone.  Speak with a clear, easy to understand voice, and keep it concise.  I know it’s hard to believe, but people don’t want to hear ramblings about your kid’s lemonade stand, they just want the facts about the products or services you offer.

Grab a pen and paper and begin to brainstorm about possible topics.  You certainly don’t need a glamorous product to come up with resonating blog topics.  Whether you sell products, or services there are people in need of the information you can provide.  This will establish you as the calm in the storm, the voice of reason, but don’t get a big head now.  From those topics you can spider web out your ideas to include more subject areas and then put them into a logical order so you can link back to previous posts (please see example of link in first paragraph – clever aren’t I?), allowing your audience to read through easily as each post builds.

Here are a few ways to generate topics:

• Customer feedback/ questions:  If several people ask the same questions over and over, you should address it formally in a post.  There are many people that simply won’t raise their hand to ask.  A great example of utilizing this technique is Laptop Parts Expert’s blog, where Jeremy uses customer calls to formulate responses via blog posts.  He takes questions from consumers and turns the responses into short and sweet posts that are easy to read, and understand.   
• Nuggets of Knowledge: Think about the things you have learned that have furthered your understanding or enjoyment of a product.  For instance, imagine that you are an antique dealer and recently obtained a painting from an 18^th century American artist.  People that visit your site would love to know a bit more about the artist’s life and circumstances surrounding the painting which would potentially increase your chances of selling that piece.  You know what you are selling, and it is your job to communicate your knowledge with your customers so they can make wise purchases. 
• Products Defined: Perhaps if people knew how a certain product or service benefits them, they would be more inclined to purchase it.  See for instance Web Shop Manager’s blog post "List Hundreds of Products, Organize Thousands of Items, Import Millions of Parts".  A post like this helps potential customers clearly understand how they could benefit from using Web Shop Manager’s eCommerce Modules.
• Industry Trends: Keep tabs on what is happening in your industry by subscribing to RSS feeds of trade organizations, and by setting up Google Alerts to deliver news worthy information.  By reading articles from others you will find valuable inspiration to spur ideas of your own, and generate current, insightful articles. 

In closing, let’s review: when posting an entry, above all else keep your audience in mind.  The minute you lose focus, they will too.  If you own an auto parts store, don’t review a local restaurant.  Become the expert and share your knowledge.  People will return to you for your sage wisdom over and over, and when the time is right they will purchase from you, the trusted source. 

Next month we will explore methods to drive traffic to your eCommerce blogs, including an attention grabbing title structure.  Until then, happy blogging!

Click here for more of the “Developing an eCommerce Blog” series to further your brand identity and grow readership.

Emily Dunn, Brown Bag Agency

Blogs provide an incredibly effective, online extension of your brand.  Blogs can also drive sales, aid in customer service,grow brand recognition, and develop meaningful relationships if handled well.  There are no stamps to buy, no cold calls to make, and you will be connecting with people that are ready and willing to listen to what you have to say in a casual, interactive atmosphere.  Now that you are curious about blogs and whether one might be a good fit for your company, take a few minutes to contemplate the following questions. 

Who should blog?  The candidate (blogger) does not need to be an established writer, but should be someone who is knowledgeable and able to convey your brand's message in a relatable voice.  Appoint one point person to make sure that the editorial calendar is adhered to, although several people could share in creating the content.  Choose individuals that can provide at least two (2) hours every two (2) weeks to write a thoughtful, well researched article.  There is another option, which is to hire a 'ghost blogger' (a copywriter to post on your company's behalf) to help fill the gap.  It is most desirable if the ghost blogger has a knowledge base of the industry or topic at hand. 

What should I blog about?  Take advantage of an interested audience by focusing on industry events, offering opinions, and sharing research on emerging technologies.  In order to relay trends and news worthy information, read industry publications, subscribe to RSS feeds for inspiration, then relay the researched information in an informative, interesting way.  Provide content that will help the audience perform their job functions, and this will keep them returning for insight and guidance, furthering your company's image as a trusted and reliable source.

When do I have to post?  Quality over quantity is the most important thing to keep in the back of your mind.  In the beginning frequency is more important to establish relationships and momentum.  I recommend developing an editorial calendar to avoid lack luster posts and maintain consistency so that posts will build on one another.

Where do I promote my blog?  There are three (3) areas I suggest looking at to promote your blog, depending on how much time is available.  Do not get overwhelmed by the sheer number of sites!  Not all will be a good fit.  Take a few minutes to scope out the community, to see if there are competitors participating (not a bad thing), and to where your potential audience hangs out.  The objective is to become active and add value to each network.  Then carry your relationships from network to network.  What I mean by that is, once you become social on Twitter, for instance, ask your friends if they prefer digg, or StumbleUpon and ask for their user id's so you can link up there too.   

Here are the three areas to consider:

1. Forums - Become active and focus your efforts on one forum until you become established, and form relationships.  From that same forum choose a few users with blogs.  Visit those blogs regularly, subscribe to their RSS feeds and become active on their sites.  Read their posts, write thoughtful comments and hopefully they will return the favor by visiting your blog. 
2. Social Bookmarking Sites -  Review the Top 20 Social Bookmarking Sites from eBizMBA to find the best one for you. 
3. Social Networking Sites - By now you have heard all heard the buzz about Twitter, and Facebook, but there are many options.  Here is a great list of the Top Twenty Five Social Networking Sites provided by Social Media Optimization to peruse. 

Why should I blog?  Three quick and simple reasons as to why you should blog:

1. Blogs are an affordable platform to share your opinions, industry news, and establish your expertise on a particular subject or field. 
2. Blogs also foster meaningful, long term relationships by engaging community interaction.  Dialogue will begin to emerge from cultivating comments and sharing opinions freely.   
3. Blog posts can serve as a company bulletin board, alerting team members to various topics of interest and keeping the group connected.

By now it should seem clear that almost any type of business could benefit from a blog, and I hope that you do take advantage of blogging as a tool to reach your target audience.

Emily Dunn, Just Eat Food

If you are looking to build a website and are unsure how or where to get started...you've found your starting point. Web Design Solutions (WDS) has everything you need. Whether you are looking to develop an informational site or sell Hundreds, Thousands, or Millions of products online, WDS is your new best friend.

Developing an ecommerce site has several components from deciding what your pages will look like to thanking your customer for their purchase. One of the greatest benefits to working with WDS is Web Shop Manager (WSM^TM), an unbelievably easy tool you will use to maintain your site, list hundreds of products, organize thousands of items, import millions of parts, and communicate with our customers. You will provide you the access efficient user interfaces for organizing and enhancing your products.

First must have the feature all ecommerce sites require which are menus for organizing your products. Of course WSM^TM has a feature for that, Categories. The employees at Web Design Solutions know how important it is for the consumer to easily 'shop' your site, no matter what industry. Consumers demand quick and easy ways to find the products they need. WSM^TM's categories will dynamically build your menus and list the assigned products. Change the category name or easily hide them if you sell seasonal products. So easy! So fast!

Do you have products that come in different size, color, or fragrance and you want your customers to customize the product to fit their need. Then WSM^TM has a feature for that, Options. Adding options to your product allows your customers to customize during the shopping process. These options give your customer the power to buy the right product for them. Create options with the greatest of ease using WSM^TM.

Have you ever wanted to find a part for your car? When shopping sites there are thousands of products to sort through. Customers want to find the part they need quickly and easily. WSM^TM has a feature for that, Tags or Attributes.  This feature allows you to easily organize your parts based on the year, make, and model. Then WSM^TM will display a straightforward search tool for the customer to narrow the products listed base on Year, Make, and/or Model they select. Consider your products SOLD when customers use this tool!

Selling products from several manufactures is exciting and offers your customers several options. But your customers will want to shop by Brand. WSM^TM has a feature for that, Brands. Easily create your brand, add a logo for brand recognition, specify the order you want them listed, and dynamically display them on all your site pages. Once you've specified which products belong with which brand your customers can click on the brand they love and shop their products.

Do you have Millions of products? Do you think if will take forever to get them on your new site? Are you worried that you do not have the proper staffing to do all the data input? No worries, Importing products is easier with our platform than any other one out there with custom profiles and scheduling you can keep your website data up to date with minimal effort.

For those of you that are in the automotive industry we understand the importance of managing your orders rather than managing products which is why we created a turn key solution for DCI / CatalogRack live integration. Web Shop Manager also comes with import tools for Network Solutions Monster Commerce, Yahoo! Stores, Volusion, osCommerce, Magento, Miva Merchant, Zen Cart, and more....

Any questions or concerns...do not worry WSM^TM has you covered, contact us today about your ecommerce needs.

Deciding that you want to sell your products or services online is exciting. Trying to figure out what you need to make it happen can be exhausting. Finding the right company and program for developing your site can be frustrating and expensive. I experienced all of these feelings and more when assigned the task to create an ecommerce site for my employer.

If you sell a product or service developing an ecommerce site may be critical to the continued success of your business. Businesses today can no longer afford to think locally. Instead, businesses must think globally, and an ecommerce site expands your business into the global marketplace like no brick and mortar business ever could.

1. Your ecommerce solution must be easy to use for the company and the customer. Find a program that will create a storefront, shopping cart and will process credit card payments with little or no development on your part. It is always important to select a firm that offers a complete one-stop ecommerce solution. This will ensure that everything can be integrated properly without compatibility problems or relying on several different services or companies to work together.
2. Solution Provider must offer exceptional customer service. It is important that you can depend on the company to be there when you need them most, when you have a question or a problem. Find a company with a great track record for reliability.
3. Includes functions for inventory and accounting. You need this to be fluid. Do not make more work for yourself ensure that the program includes features to maintain inventory and offers the ability to export data for use with external accounting programs.
4. Ensures the requirements for SSL, Merchant Accounts and your Payment Gateway are met (critical elements to a successful site). There are several technical and critical components you need to have for a functioning ecommerce site. I recommend finding a company that includes setting up and assisting you with the steps for accepting your payments for goods or services rendered online.
5. Supports and establishes your overall design and menu structure of your site. A company that includes a design team will take your vision and make it a reality. Also, ensure they take the design and establish the template for creating your entire site. You should also have the ability to change or add to your menus without creating or editing programming code.
6. Helps you reach your goals within your budget and have options for monthly hosting fees. You need options and the options should include different levels for hosting your site. These levels should be in line with the size of your business, but would not restrict your growth. Find a company that will allow you to start out small or large.
7. Offers tools to analyze your site activity, i.e. #number of visitors, searched phrases, and # of orders. You will need to review your site for enhancements or changes based on visitor activity. There are many tools available for monitoring your visitors. Make it easier on yourself and find a company that includes this data.
8. Includes customizing functions to use for different views based upon the type of customer, i.e. business-to-business, business-to-consumer, or business-to-employee. If you plan to sell your products or services to different groups of people with special prices for each; then you will need to ensure that the feature to set up this type of structure is included in your site development program.
9. Includes features for developing customer friendly information, i.e. image gallery, FAQ, store locator, and news. These features engage your customer so they come back more often. They should be easy for you to set up and maintain.
10. Find a company that has a track record of short down-time (times when your site is unavailable due to technical problems or not enough band width.) Just remember that bigger and cheaper is not always better. Find the company that has the hardware and structure to support their customers and have plans for growth as their client base increases.

After researching solutions providers, get fresh, found Web Design Solutions and their program Web Shop Manager! Not only did their program have all the features we needed to easily create our site, but they also have a team with exceptional customer service. Web Design Solutions guided us through every phase of development and ensured we were ready for our launch. Our site and the tools available to create all the features exceeded our original expectations. Without Wed Design Solutions and Web Shop Manager, our site may not have been as dynamic, easy to maintain, and user-friendly. They provided web design, hosting, ecommerce solutions, and content management packages to let us control as much of the website as we desired whether it's managing our products, the checkout process, or informational pages.

We found that ecommerce website development is quite simple when using the right tools. You can see the results for yourself. Check us out at www.getfresh.net, and then visit Web Design Solutions at www.webdesignsolutions.com to get started on your site today!

Paulette Palladino, get fresh

In an effort to make Web Shop Manager more Manufacturer friendly we have added the following features to the Dealer package (some are applicable to all packages)...

• You can now block Dealers or other users from the free shipping option.
• You can now force Dealers or other users to only have Invoice for payment method.
• You can now set special messages for each step of the checkout for the Dealers or user groups.
• Limit certain pages, categories, & products to specific groups.
• You also still set Dealers and other users to tax exempt.
• Alternate email for new order notifications. (in config settings)
• Enhanced dashboard graph options to see your growth over longer periods.

In addition to our feature packed Google Maps integrated Dealer Locator, we make all fields optional so you can fill in anything or only fill in certain fields.