March 2013

Virtually every technology solution you need to create any kind of business is now available for free or at modest cost.

The challenge is in sorting through the good, bad and ugly and selecting the right tools for YOUR strategy.

Today, with 25 minutes, we will look at some enabling technology (but don’t forget about strategy).

Literally thousands of choices.

Typically, the moving parts of an e-commerce solution include your site/store, the cart, the payment gateway and the merchant account.

Critical elements include picking a solution that meets the needs of your customers, is the right “size” for your company, matches your technology and is the right solution for the type of product or service you’re selling...

In this case, you might be getting paid for an invoice or a simple service (small volume).

Tools like PayPal or Beanstream’s Simple Payment Form will suffice.

Completely hosted store (i.e. Shopify)+ payment gateway (i.e. Beanstream).

Build your own shopping site with cart solution (many, many options).

Must consider customer service.

Hint: evaluate your growth plans BEFORE you get started – this will influence your choice dramatically.

A different kettle of fish...

Need booking AND payment.

Generally a very industry-specific solution. i.e. Vizergy, ihotelier, rezmonkey.

Fairly simple solutions.

Choice might depend on whether you want sophisticated notification or RSVPs, etc.

May or may not need to integrate payment (i.e. PayPal or Amazon Payments for meetup).

eBooks(Kindle, Nook, etc, etc)

Downloadable software (Digital River, Fastspring, etc.)

Membership sites and Content (Wishlist Member, aMember Pro)

Music (iTunes, Tunecore)

Apps (App Store/s)

At-event sales (i.e. Beanstream Mobile)

There are no more excuses – you can now measure EVERYTHING.

A couple of the most basic tools include Bit.ly and Google Analytics (if you want to be on the web you should be familiar with both of these!)

Courtesy www.jeffkorhan.com

Shortens links (important if you share blog URLS).

Tracks all clicks on the links it shortens!

Understand most everything about your visitors.

Let’s look at a few of the features in Analytics...

Makes a/b testing accessible for everyone!

Laser targeting and accessibility of ad platforms creates huge opportunities.

Demographic and “remarketing” targeting create great opportunities.

A performance marketing agency helping small to medium sized companies craft measurable online strategies.

An international-calibre team.

Rob’s always happy to chat and is available through Rob@PlusROI.com.