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Chapter 1: What is eCommerce all about?

What is it?

Electronic commerce, which is commonly written as eCommerce, refers to the trading or facilitating of trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet.

eCommerce relies on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, electronic data interchange (EDI), supply chain management, online transaction processing, Internet marketing, inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

The World Wide Web is commonly used in modern electronic commerce for at least one part of the transaction's life-cycle. Although other technologies, such as e-mail, can be also used.
Why should you get into it today?

Here are some reasons to start an eCommerce business.

eCommerce is expected to grow.

According to eMarketer, global eCommerce sales are expected to peak at nearly $2.5 trillion by the end of 2018.

The US market is expected to grow by somewhere between 11.6% and 16.5%. China, with a projected $1 trillion in retail eCommerce sales by 2018, is anticipated to develop into the world’s 2nd largest eCommerce market, while the UK market is expected to generate about one-quarter of that figure.

That means that now is the best time to tap into the world of online sale as emerging markets rapidly enter the eCommerce game. Every day the opportunities increase.

It's recommended to examine trends when choosing a business model when moving into growth markets. The eCommerce model is an excellent choice for those that are interested in diversifying and expanding, or for entrepreneurs that are looking to start a new business.

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So make sure then that your blog content is as exciting and interesting as your website content and try to think of it as its own service or product that could stand alone if necessary.

Once your mailing list becomes a product or a service, people will feel they’re getting a good deal by being able to download it for free and you’ll be able to more easily promote its highlights.

For instance, why not make your mailing list into an email course? You can create a course very easily using an autoresponder and you can make sure that you have a sales funnel at the end of the sequence.
Likewise, you could make your mailing list into an e-zine. This is basically a newsletter in PDF form but much longer - including full articles, beautiful images and professional formatting. Simply show people images of this e-zine and explain what’s in it and they’ll a) really want to subscribe to your mailing list and b) be excited to open each new message.

You can also give your mailing list inherent value in other ways. How about entering every one of your subscribers into a prize draw for instance? This way, they’ll have to open each message in order to find out if they’ve won and they’ll have a good reason to subscribe. Or alternatively, you could give away the occasional free gift. Instead of only giving away eBooks as incentives when you try to get people to sign up, this would mean that you occasionally send through PDFs and reports without reason or warning. This then means you can write in the subject heading that your email contains a free gift and you can attach a PDF. That way, people who maybe have stopped opening or looking out for your messages will notice that this one has something free and be much more likely to want to click and open it. At the same time, giving away things for free without saying that you’re going to is an excellent way to impress your readers and to generate good will. This is what you call ‘over-delivering’ – where you provide more value than you promise and thereby exceed expectations. This is a great strategy that lots of businesses could stand to benefit from.

Even if you do decide to make your emails more conventional as straightforward ‘newsletters’, it’s still important to make sure that you find ways to make them interesting and unique and to keep bringing people back and you still need to deliver great quality. Give your readers something that you’re not offering to your regular site visitors by going into your topics in a bit more depth or adding some extra content. Then go ahead and curate the content on your own website and from the industry/niche for their convenience.

If you’re really clever and you’re selling a product, you may even be able to get people excited to read about that product. If you do this, then your messages can be more conventionally ‘marketing-oriented’ while still getting people excited and delivering value.

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Thanks to the tremendous population on Facebook, this site offers potential for just about any business imaginable. Making a campaign really work, however, does take some finesse. Not every ad or niche is going to prove to be an instant winner. There are some strategies you can use that can increase chances for success though.

To make Facebook ads pay off, you have to plan your campaigns with care. You also need to be very well aware of the target audience you’re going after. The more specific you are about who you are trying to reach, the better Facebook is likely to work for you. Also, it’s a good idea to set an advertising budget in place. This will help you control your costs more efficiently. Before you get started, however, it’s smart to have some stated goals in mind.

Set your goals

When you’re getting ready to launch any advertising campaign on Facebook or anywhere else for that matter, you want to have goals in mind. When you set clearly defined parameters, you will have a yardstick by which to measure results.

If you’ve never set advertising goals before, you do need to be realistic about what to expect. Average conversion rates for pay-per-click advertising run between 2 and 3 percent. This means for every 100 people that see an ad, two to three people actually click through. Facebook ads can produce much higher results if they are put together properly, but for your initial goal setting you might want to stick with slightly lower expectations.

Other parameters to define include:

The purpose of your campaign

Are your trying to actually sell something or are you trying to gain followers for a particular political campaign or point of view? Your ad’s purpose will help you set goals that help you better determine if a campaign is working.

Your desired sales or “join” results

Are you trying to gain 10 more sales a month? Or, are you looking for 1,000 new people to sign up for a candidate’s fan page and newsletter? Set your expectations to help guide your campaign efforts later. Do keep expectations reasonable, based on the typical conversion rates we’ve already discussed along with your estimated click-throughs based on Facebook’s formulations.

How much you are willing to spend to enjoy the desired results

We’ll get more into budgeting details later, but it’s a good idea to start thinking about what you can spend and the results you want to generate with that money.

Tips for planning your campaign

As we’ve already discussed, Facebook cuts right to the chase with advertisers. The very first thing you need to do to get started with this program is to create your ad. Before you dive in though, you’re going to want to do a whole lot of brainstorming about your campaign, the results you’d like to see, the money you’re willing to spend and the audience(s) you want to target.

The following tips can help you better plan out your campaign:

Identify your product(s)

If your business sells one thing, this step will be easy. If you are an online marketer with a virtual store that specializes in a wide variety of products, you might want to pick some of your top sellers, new introductions or items you’re trying to move through sales. Whatever the case, have a clear picture in your mind of what exactly it is you are trying to promote and what you’d like to achieve from your efforts.

Consider using multiple ads

While Facebook will ask you to enter each ad separately, you can technically create a "campaign” that includes a number of different variations. This will enable you to try out different tactics, products and wording to see what works and what doesn’t. You can also set different ads in your campaign to appeal to slightly different targeting groups. This will help you better see what demographics covert more readily for you on this unique website.

Set your timeframe parameters

If you’re representing a multinational business with an endless advertising budget, you might not have to worry about this. For the rest of the advertising world, however, it’s a good idea to set a timeframe during which ads will appear. Even if you have a massive budget, a closed-ended campaign gives you a timeframe to work within to test ad effectiveness and really determine what works and what doesn’t.

Make sure your landing page is appropriate

Facebook can and will generate clicks to a landing page or home page. It will not, however, close the sales for you. With this in mind, you need to make certain your pages are truly designed to sell and also fit Facebook requirements. We’ll get into Facebook’s rules for landing pages a little later, and also offer up ideas to close the sales. Both are very important for enjoying success with advertising on this site.

Review Facebook’s rules closely

Facebook is very, very picky about the ads it allows placed on its website. Make sure to review the rules inside out and backwards as you brainstorm your campaigns and set your ad wording. Facebook does detail its regulations in depth on its site.

Set reasonable expectations

As it is with Google Adwords, Facebook campaigns don’t always pan out the way advertisers would like them to. This can be a result of poor wording in an ad, weak headlines, images that don’t catch the eye or failure of the landing page to actually sell. As you go along, you may need to tweak these things to gain the results you are after. With this in mind, set your initial expectations reasonably.

Plan other strategies to dovetail with advertising campaigns

Having a fan page established and your own Facebook account to generate "friends” can prove essential for advertising success. These free marketing forms can gain you a great deal of interest, traffic and sales, as well. When the free advertising ability on Facebook combines with paid ads, the combination can really produce pleasing results.