I had planned this week to go into a bit more detail regarding one or two of the more popular e-commerce solutions, including our favourites here at getyouonline. However instead, rather than some more theory, I thought it would be a good idea to show you some examples of e-commerce sites that we have created, a website being worth a thousand words (…or something like that anyway).

All of these websites use the Romancart system

Jo Waterfield Jewellery (http://jowaterfieldjewellery.co.uk/) is high class online jewellery store "covering everything from key trend pieces to timeless classics in silver or gold with beautiful semi precious stones and pearls". Pieces are organised by category for easy browsing with nice big images and the option to share the webpage with your friends across many social network platforms. The site is easy to navigate, simple and chic with a smooth checkout system  to keep the customer experience a smooth one. It is a site that we are particularly proud of here at getyouonline.

Kings Furniture Warehouse (http://kingsfurniturewarehouse.co.uk/) are a Nottingham based company specialising in highly discounted, quality end of line furnitures. Their products include leather sofas, beds, bedroom furniture, dining tables, chairs, mattresses and most furniture for the home. Kings Furnitute is a bright and attention grabbing site to help drive home the simple message and company tag line ' The Home of Cheap Sofas, Beds and Furniture'. Again RomanCart was used with a more complex bespoke system as this time – as per the customer's requirements – we needed to include a 'special offer' module capable of displaying changing random products from within a 'special offer product category'. Again the checkout process is clear

Central Waste UK Ltd (http://nottinghamskip.com) are one of Nottingham’s premier skip hire companies, specialising in the hiring of skips to both residential and commercial customers throughout the Nottinghamshire areas. For Central Waste we created a databse driven bespoke skip ordering system covering a large combination of skip sizes and geographical areas. It may be a complex beats at heart but the customer experience is a clear and simple one.

All our ecommerce websites come with a secure and simple back-end administrative area where website owners can easily add, edit and change new products, create categories and with little technical knowlege. We provide full training so that you are comfortable running your shop and we are always just a phone call away should you run into trouble or need some advice.

If you would like to know more about our e-Commerce websites or if you would like to order one, please call our Sales team on 01159 722 050

Considering a mobile app?….

1.      Your target audience will not take an interest in your business app unless it makes life easier or more convenient for them.

2.      Creating an app may increase your business income engaging better with your audience, which may result in more profitability.

3.      You may have to advertise your app to get your audience to download it, you have to be willing to spread the word and get people interested enough to spread the news of your exciting, new creation.

 
Would you like advice on additional business marketing?
Call Getyouonline for more information 0115 9722050

Last week i sold a website to a flooring business located in the centre of Nottingham.

The company had a website which was old of date with very poor Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which wasn't bring in much enquiries.

We have a large number of flooring companies that we designed, host & SEO.

Each website is designed and tailored to the customer’s requirements

Please look at the following selection of flooring websites getyouonline.co.uk have developed to give you an idea of what can be achieved:-

http://www.woodthorpeflooringltd.co.uk/

http://www.taylormadeflooring.co.uk/

http://www.southgladecarpets.co.uk/

http://wwwcoventrycarpets.co.uk/

http://www.naturaltimberfloors.co.uk/

http://www.commercialflooringderby.com/

85% of people who utilise Google search for what they are looking to purchase or make use of – if you do not have a website or if your website is out of date there is a big chance that you will be missing out on enquiries – can your business afford not to have an up-to-date website?

If you’re interested in using www.getyouonline.co.uk to revamp your website or if you’re thinking of having a website to boost your business profile, then please telephone any of our offices :- 
(Nottingham): 01159 722 050 (Derby): 01332 428 429 or (Leicester): 01163 560 561 or drop me an email michael@getyouonline.co.uk

To see daily information on Twitter & follow me – my Twitter ID is @Derby_Web

Another service provided by getyouonline is providing your business with promotional items and corporate gifts. We can brand anything with your company logo including pens, mouse mats, keys, mugs, and even umbrellas.

A promotional giveaway can be a valuable tool in gaining new customers and in improving relationships with current customers. Whether you are looking to attract new clients at an exhibition with a printed t-shirt or key ring giveaway, to sending out a quality printed pen to your current clients as a thank you, promotional merchandise has always been and will continue to be a valuable tool for your advertising and marketing.

Some of the products we can brand with your company logo are listed below:

Get your message across with promotional merchandise, t-shirts, pens, key rings, corporate giveaways and much more from getyouonline. For more information on the promotional items we can offer call our sales team today on 01159 722 050.

This week it's all about Networking and how you can use Twitter to Network your business.

This Importance Of Networking…

Most business owners will never feel networking is urgent but it is very important as networking with the right businesses will bring you both short and long term business deals!

Who Do I Network With? How Do I Network Through Twitter?

Find people and businesses involved in your industry and market and follow them on Twitter. See what they are tweeting about and what types of content they are sharing and link to. It's also good to check out some of your direct competition! See how they are using Twitter and what they are doing with it. It also gives you a cahnce to make sure you're keeping up with them and helps make sure your not falling behind!

Using this content your industry's sharing you can create ideas to help you use for marketing and other purposes  to tweet and blog about.

It's also great to Re-tweet other's content regularly so you're keeping in touch and showing your keen to network with them.

If any of them are local, make sure you help share their content so your own followers are kept up to date. Also, why not arrange to meet up through Twitter for a catch up?

Referrals & Incentives

People are always interested in doing something for you if their's something in it for them! So why not offer a referral scheme through Twitter, allowing anybody who you Network with to Re-Tweet your content and generate you leads. Indentify this and offer a referral bonus to anybody who generates you a sale by them "Networking" and sharing your content.

Direct Messages

People often forget you can send private messages on twitter. It's not all about Tweeting and announcing to the whole world! Use Twitter’s private “Direct Message” facility to connect directly with influential or important people in your industry. Some people these days not only find it easier to reply through Twitter but also prefer it!

Next Week: Research – Next week I'll explain how you can use Twitter to research and widen our horizons!

For More Information On Twitter Speak To Our Social Media Experts.
Call Getyouonline.co.uk Today On 01159 722 050 Or Email Us On cs@getyouonline.co.uk Now!

By putting a video on your website can also help with your rank in Google!  Google has already started to list some videos in the search results and in the near future video will be an essential to Google so by posting videos on your site sooner rather than later will put you one step ahead of your competitors. When a customer see’s a video on a search result page it gives them more of a good reason to visit your website.

Here are a few more advantages for having a video on your website:

• Visually – People prefer the “visual experience” when searching for web, people would much rather watch a video than read a full screen of text. Videos break up your website and make it look more professional. Customers like “how to” videos as its easier to watch something being done than to read a whole page of text about something.
• On Demand – Your video will be there all the time so your customers will be able to watch it and go back to it all the time by simply visiting your website.
• It’s Sticky – When customers visit your website and watch your video they will be more interested in exploring your website to see what more you have to offer and what additional services you have.

The advantages of having a video on your website are endless and you can use them not only on your website but in your workplace on a DVD format in your window or on a television in the reception area and you could also use it in presentations, marketing, selling and promotions.The awareness of videos are growing and are more now an expectation.

If you would like to know more about videos and how having a video on your website on your website will help your company and website.

Call Getyouonline for more information: 0115 972 2050

Or reply to this blog!

The Business was formed in June 2005, The founder and current Chairman is my father Frank Miller who recently retired, and  the M.D. is Paul Genders who is my brother in Law.

I do a lot of organising within the sales department, striving towards company sales targets.

I am going to talk the main benefits of going with a family run business instead of a large business organisation.

The advantages of a family run Business
• Loyalty
• Common values
• Strong commitment
• Stability
• Product centered business
• Quicker decision making
• Ownership is there
• Wisely held
• Obligated the keep every customer
 

The disadvantages of a large organisation
• Slower decision making
• Higher Turnover of staff
• Usually have larger overheads so use a lot of sales tactics
• Usually offer cheaper packages which usually hold false return results
• Sell on volume not quality.
• Loosely held
• Lacks ownership
• Usually take risks hence they have higher gains (or losses) but a family run business is less likely to take a risk leaving a more stable profits
• Look at customers as a digit not as a customer (usually because they have a lot more)
 

So hopefully from reading the above you can see why it is a good idea to get a website with Getyouonline.

Ultimately when you become a customer with ourselves you will meet the staff, so why not find out some prior knowledge about us.

Without a doubt the simplest way to add e-commerce functionality to your website is using Paypal.

One you create an account with Paypal, they will provide you with some code that can be inserted in to your site. You set a price for your product, then when people click on the Paypal button, they are taken through to the Paypal website to make a payment. Both you and the customer receive an email when payment is made. No confidential payment information is held on site and you don't get to see any other confidential details such as credit card number.

Buyers no longer need a Paypal account themselves to buy from you as Paypal accepts credit cards. Paypal will take a cut of any sales – a small fee (about 30 pence) plus a small percentage of the sale, depending on whether you have chosen the basic Paypal account (probably advisable if this is your first time foray into selling products online and or you only have a single product or a few products to sell) or another option.

If you have multiple products at different prices, Paypal also has options for this. Providing you have access to your website's source code, this is still not difficult for those who are a little more technically minded.

There are nice touches with Paypal payment integration such as redirecting back to your site to a dedicated thankyou page (or if the customer has cancelled the payment, then a page displaying another message); buttons can be customised and branded as can the Paypal payment page to make the purchase process a little more seamless.

For customers wishing to sell a lot of products, and wanting functionality such as bulk buy deals, direct credit card payment without leaving the site, vouchers, stock cnotrol etc, the code provided by Paypal alone will simply not cut the mustard. You will need off the shelf ecommerce software which integrates into your site or (which actually IS your site).

Many of these option still do use use Paypal as the' payment gateway method (as well as others) but set up is probably beyond the scope of the casual seller or someone who wants to concentrate their time processing orders, adding products and concentrating on sales, rather than learning what can be a complicated setup process. However this method is absolutely essential if you want shoppers to have trust and to make the payment process and options as simple and as flexible as possible.

Next week will look at some alternative and advanced methods of how to provide ecommerce functionality in your website.

If you would like to know more about our e-Commerce websites or if you would like to order one, please call our Sales team on 01159 722 050