The Top 3 Benefits of E-Commerce Sites

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
I haven't given you a list in a long time, huh? Well why didn't you say something!

How's this for a useful one:

The Top 3 Hard-and-Fast, Rock-Bottom Business Benefits of e-Commerce:

1. More Revenue Customer service is all about individual attention. No kidding. But guess what - your e-commerce site can give individual assistance to a bucket load of customers all at the same time. That's more sales, and more dough to feed the bottom line. Blammo.

2. Less Time Know what else? Your e-commerce site does 90 percent of the sales work for you. If someone can find your site, they can buy your stuff. That means the average time you spend on a sale drops dramatically. Write that down, junior.

3. Easy Marketing With an e-commerce site, all you need to market your product is a link. Email it to your list, and they're a click away from buying. So easy, a caveman could do it.

Check your pulse, Ladies and Gents.  If those aren't the kind of benefits that get you all hot-and-bothered, I don't know what will.

An Intro to e-Commerce

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
Actually, you probably don’t need an intro. I bet you’ve used e-commerce sites many times before. If you’ve ever bought something from amazon.com, you’ve been a part of e-commerce. Even if you’ve just done some product research before buying something at a store, you’ve been a part of e-commerce.

What it is

e-Commerce is a name that covers a wide range of internet services. In it’s broadest sense, e-commerce is any of a number of web applications that allow people to research and buy products online. Examples being amazon.com, eBay, overstock.com, woot.com, and on and on. Essentially, any web site that gives visitors the ability to buy something online is a part of the e-commerce landscape.

Benefits to your Business

The benefits of e-commerce to businesses are obvious. By allowing your customers to buy your products at their convenience, you take advantage of sales opportunities previously unavailable to you. It’s like having a store that’s open 24 / 7. If someone want’s to buy your widget at 3am they can.

It also takes advantage of sales space you didn’t have before. Now your buyer doesn’t have to leave their house to purchase your products. Your store comes to them. They can browse as long as they like, add items to their shopping cart, and check themselves out. Your storefront is now in my living room.

Benefits to your Customer

The benefits to your customers are the same in some ways. Being able to purchase necessities quickly and easily leaves more time to accomplish other tasks. Being able to do so without driving someplace also saves fuel, and the frustration of standing in line. It makes shopping a less intrusive experience.

It also helps customers easily find what they’re looking for. With a searchable database of products, visitors simply type what they need, and your website brings it to them. No more wandering through a store, wondering if toasters would be with appliances or kitchen goods.

The research potential is not to be overlooked, either. e-Commerce sites allow people to browse prices and offers at different stores without having to actually visit them. By comparison shopping on the web, often stores find that customers need less guidance and have fewer questions.

e-Commerce is a win for both sides of the sales process.

Your Web Site's Personality

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
Salespeople know a few things about authenticity. The best ones know how to bring their unique personality to bear in such a way as to create success.
Guess what else is like that.

Give up? It’s the thing I talk about every week…

Come on...nothin’?

Your WEB SITE, fa’ crying out loud!

Because Business is Personal

You can imagine that I’ve seen some doozy web sites in my time. Especially in the early days, web sites didn’t have much personality at all. Sure sometimes there’d be a funky background or a wacky image, but real personality had a hard time coming through on the web.

Well it comes through now. And in the business world, it’s expected.

Who You Are = Who Your Web Site Should Be

This is sort of a hard topic to talk about. Every business, like every person, has a unique personality that they bring to the table. Often, the most salient traits of an individual are what cause him or her to go into a specific business. You can’t always draw a box around those traits, but you can feel them. You know they’re there.

And those traits, when properly leveraged, can be exactly the ones that lead a person to success.

It’s the same on the web. The unique character of your web site, expressed in the colors, the copy, the imagery, the logos, the staff photos (or illustrations, in our case) all come together to give your web site a unique personality.
And that’s what sells

It’s a low-trust world we’re living in. That’s so true, that if someone hasn’t already used that line in a blues song, I’ll hang up my guitar and build web sites for a living (ok, I already do).

In a climate where trust is low, the really powerful people are authentic. And that’s what we’re building here at IntelliSites. Authentic web sites that reflect the real, core values of a business. Sites that engender trust, that water the seeds of business relationships. Sites that help you spread your message genuinely.

And you know what? It feels pretty good.

Managing Your Contacts on the Web

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
There’s a context-setting scene in the movie The American President (I know it’s cheesy, get over it) in which Michael Douglas walks through the halls of The White House on the way to The Oval Office on a typical morning. As he walks, his secretary Jane shuffles hurriedly behind him, whispering the name of the next person he’s going to see.

The gardener, the guy washing the windows - it doesn’t matter. Jane knows their names, their birthdays, how many kids they have and what kind of ice cream they like.

I don’t know about you, but I’d love that kind of help. Except without the following-me-around-and-whispering-in-my-ear-all-day part. That could get annoying quick.

At Your Fingertips

Having deep information on your clients is an invaluable tool for personalizing their experience of your business. If you’re the guy who remembers to ask how Susie is doing in her advanced basket weaving class, you’re building the kind of rapport that gets you beyond service provider and into caring business partner land.

The Web App that Cares

You could get that kind of detailed service from a custom web app. I’ve said before that we build web apps that do just about anything. One of the things they are great at is contact management.

We’ll build you an application that tracks more than the basic name, email and phone number stuff. We’ll build you one that has a place for meeting notes, email conversations, client files, payment history, relationship rating, how that client came to you, what projects you’ve done for them...I could go on and on.

Or you could go on and on. Because the greatest part about custom applications is that they are tailored to fit your business. Maybe you don’t need a list of projects, but you do need a place to keep track of relevant touchpoints with each client. Great! We can do that.

Not Just Cool for Nerds

I’ll be honest - I’ve got a thing for organized data. I’ve been known to salivate a bit over clever organizational systems.

But all that org-geekery aside, the benefits of a tight system are innumerable. As I mentioned earlier, having detailed notes on clients allows you to really personalize your interactions. The benefit of having up-to-the-second client info available to your whole team allows you to eliminate client update meetings. If anyone can post client notes a central database, then everyone stays in the loop, all the time.

And that’s about as close to magic as you’re likely to come.