So why will they choose you, and why won’t they. The answer; About Us. A page that is commonly undervalued by ecommerce owners, but often essential to the success of a sale.

Users want to know a bit about you, they are safe when shopping with Next or B&Q online, if they have a problem they can pop into their nearest store and get it sorted – the same is not true of the internet.

So give your users some hard facts:

• your company name
• your company  and vat registration numbers (if you have them)
• your contact details, including a phone number and address (not a PO Box)
• a short biog of you and your company
• your returns and delivery policies

And finally make the page easy to find, don’t hide it away in the footer. Worried about dealing with endless sales calls, don’t be – most people will never call you, but they like to know they can if they need to and wouldn’t you rather deal with a call and get a sale than not get any calls and no sales either…

The most important thing is to make sure you are sending emails to people who have actually requested them. Tailor emails to suit your subscriber’s interests and add an unsubscribe option.

If your Content Management System can manage your mailing list, including subscriber interests and unsubscribe, then this will save you a great deal of time, and ultimately money.

Social Media is a great new marketing tool and an efficient customer service channel, so make sure you make the most of it!

The report also commented on how searches for these type of terms increased at periods such as Christmas.

So here’s at tip for online retailers – if you want to boost business, why not throw in a few freebies. Make sure your ‘free’ and ‘promotion’ keywords are easily searchable and then keep track of your sales.

The most important piece of information on this page is the ‘Proceed to Checkout’ button. It should be:

• At the top and bottom of the page, so it is visible even when a user scrolls to the bottom of the page
• Identical in format to other buttons on the site such as ‘Add to Basket’
• Use a colour which is significantly different to other colours on the page
• Have lots of white space around it

WH Smiths is a great example of a website with clear ‘Proceed to Checkout’ prompts.

Cross selling is suggesting other products the user may like, these could be alternatives or products which complement  what they have chosen, earrings to go with a necklace, a helmet to go with a bike.

It is a great way for ecommerce owners to earn more revenue from customers, but it also helps customers. They may be looking for a necklace to go with their earrings, and it will save them time to have it presented to them rather than having to search again.

Accessorize uses ‘Complete the Look’ to suggest complementary products. Woolworths has a selection of options including ‘You may also like’ and ‘Accessories’. Whereas Topshop misses this important feature out completely. A big mistake for a shop with so many complementary products and women desperate to spend their hard earned money after every pay day!

Ecommerce have the advantage over traditional stores in that you can keep your baskets and checkouts visible to the customer at all times, just like having a member of staff following you round the store with your basket and a till! And yet, many online retailers neglect these important functions, making it more difficult for customers to buy.

No matter where your users are on the site they should always be able to see their basket and navigate to the checkout. A great example of this is the HMV website, not so good is Currys – it is difficult to see your basket in amongst all the options in the header and the basket doesn’t tell you how many items you have or the total!

Where possible your search facility should:

• be close to the top of the page
• have a ’search’ or ‘go’ button, which actually looks like a button
• have plenty of white space around it, so it stands out
• include the word ’search’, at least once, so it is obvious what it is.

An example of a website with a good search function is Waterstones and not so good is H Samuel.

Approach at least 3 agencies, but no more than 8, you should have a lengthy conversation with each and they will probably want to meet you, so if you approach too many it can take up valuable time. The good thing about approaching more than one agency is that you should get lots of information, the bad thing is that you will probably get a variety of conflicting points of view. The more research you do about your internet marketplace before hand the better armed you will be.

There is no easy answer to how much a website costs. Website agencies’ prices will vary according to a wide number of factors, but mostly it will be about their approach to websites – what they feel is important. If you can find an agency who has similar opinions to you then you are in a good place to get started on your website.

It is important that you find someone on your wavelength, who really understands your business. Have a detailed look through the pitches, don’t just go for the cheapest – as they may not include things you need like a CMS or SEO. Think carefully – do your research and find the right person for the job.