We regularly update our clients on best practices for managing online presence and business transactions. Here is one such bit from us which will help you as you progress in your online E-commerce business.

Understand the nature and objective of your ecommerce website. For example, are you trying to sell product, disseminate information or attract subcribers? (This is where mailers, newsletters and blog play an imp role).

Categorising / Profiling the type of users based on product preferences and website analytics data will also help. Post purchase reviews and getting visitor feedback help a lot.

There’s always a possibility that you may jump to conclusions and find that you are going in the wrong direction – so its advisable to keep sample sizes small in the beginning. Test the market.

Talk with your peers and trade competitors is a good approach to learn from their experiences. The same applies for your partner relationships. This will reduce time spent on innovating add value to what you are trying to achieve.

Understand the value of data.

How many visitors leave your site because they cannot find what they are looking for or because the information is inadequate?

What is the cost (both in terms of time and money) to maintain, develop and innovate your site content?

What are the benefits of constant content update and upgrade?

The above will take time to get used to but interpreting analytics data is not as difficult as it sounds. information and analysis will ensure you are better prepared and more agile to capture opportunities that will continue to come your way.

From a content organizing perspective here are some pointers :

Categorise: Useful for defining different types of goods, particularly relevant in retail type of products. a critical usability feature for consumers.

Timing or season mapping : Best for events that lead to sales over fixed durations or festivities. An important parameter for generating much needed visibility.

Location analysis : Useful when you are trying to examine and compare information that comes from different locales. Helps target your marketing budgets better.

Labeling / coding : Useful for organising large product range particularly where the audience might not understand classification by form. The easiest labels are best kept to 5 digits the first alphabet as common for a product category.

Scheduling and Batch size : Critical when you have limited numbers of products and expect a consumer demand. Its ideal to be aware let the online user know if he stands a chance to buy if he purchases.

No doubt this needs to be part of a robust Internet Marketing strategy. Best wishes.