There are lots of shopping cart software providers out there (3d shopping cart, Agora shopping cart software, to name a few). But whether you are using a cheap shopping cart solution or one that costs a bomb (or greater alternative: you’re getting InstanteStore), a newbie online merchant might get lost in all the ecommerce jargon strewn across cyberspace. It appears that everyday new terms are being coined. Some terms remain but many more are forgotten just as easily as the were conjured. Here are 5 terms which have been here been with us for a while.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a method of driving quality traffic to a site without any financial outlay. This natural or organic method requires tweaking the site’s content, coding and HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) to raise its relevance to particular keywords and make it easier for search engines to index and subsequently increasing the site’s visibility on a search engine’s result’s page (SERP).

SEM

Search Engine Marketing or SEM is a method of advertising a site via the use of paid placements or paid inclusion. This form of internet marketing can raise your visibility in SERP’s much faster then SEO alone, but at a cost of course. Before engaging in an SEM program, make sure you carry out a viability study. Ensure the returns can justify the investment before you go out and spend your hard earned cash.

Hard Goods And Soft Goods

An online store may sell several goods that are generally divided into 2 categories – hard goods and soft goods. Hard goods are tangible items like books and MP3 players. Soft goods are products that exist electronically like MP3’s, software and ebooks – items that can be downloaded. The standout thing about soft goods is that you do not need to fret about packaging, shipping and inventory space. Literally every process involved in the sale and delivery of soft goods can be e-store proprietors who are already running more than one online store but do not intend to increase their manpower.

Internet Merchant Account

An internet merchant account facilitates the receiving of online payments, generally by credit card. If you have issues having an internet merchant account, you can consider the services of a merchant broker. A merchant broker would then charge a setup fee and provide the software and hardware necessary either by lease or sale, as necessary.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate has nothing to do with religion. As an alternative it pertains to the percentage of visitors to an online store who are converted into buyers. Conversions do not happen automatically and depend on a few factors to help capture a visitor to buy from a certain store. The clever use of images, content and call to action phrases all play a part in this process of conversion. All content should be concise and to the point. In actual fact, everything on a online store should be geared to convert traffic, whether directly of indirectly. Web pages should be clear from clutter and all elements that could distract a visitor for the actual converting into a customer.

So before you sign up for a feature-rich yet low cost shopping cart solution like InstanteStore, be sure you brush up on your ecommerce jargon.

There are lots of shopping cart software providers out there (3d shopping cart, Agora shopping cart, to name a few). But whether you are using a cheap shopping cart solution or one that costs a bomb (or greater alternative: you’re getting InstanteStore), a newbie online merchant might get lost in all the ecommerce jargon strewn across cyberspace. It may seem that everyday new terms are being invented. Some terms remain but many more are forgotten just as easily as the were conjured. Here are 5 terms which have been here been with us for a while.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a way of driving quality traffic to a site without any financial outlay. This natural or organic method involves tweaking the site’s content, coding and HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) to raise its relevance to certain keywords and make it easier for search engines to index and subsequently improving the site’s visibility on a search engine’s result’s page (SERP).

SEM

Search Engine Marketing or SEM is a way of advertising a site via the use of paid placements or paid inclusion. This form of internet marketing can raise your visibility in SERP’s much faster then SEO alone, but at a cost of course. Before engaging in an SEM program, make sure you carry out a viability study. Ensure the returns can justify the investment before you go out and spend your hard earned cash.

Hard Goods And Soft Goods

An online store may sell quite a number of goods that are generally divided into 2 categories – hard goods and soft goods. Hard goods are tangible items like books and MP3 players. Soft goods are products that exist electronically like MP3’s, software and ebooks – items that can be downloaded. The wonderful thing about soft goods is that you need not fret about packaging, shipping and storage space. Virtually every process involved in the sale and delivery of soft goods may be e-store proprietors who are already running more than one web store but do not intend to increase their manpower.

Internet Merchant Account

An internet merchant account assists the receiving of online payments, generally by credit card. If you have complications getting an internet merchant account, you can consider the services of a merchant broker. A merchant broker would then charge a setup fee and provide the software and hardware necessary either by lease or sale, as required.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate has nothing to do with religion. Instead it pertains to the percentage of visitors to an online store who are converted into buyers. Conversions do not happen automatically and depend on a few factors to help capture a visitor to buy from a certain store. The clever use of images, content and call to action phrases all play a part in this process of conversion. All content should be concise and to the point. As a matter of fact, everything on a web store should be geared to convert traffic, whether directly of indirectly. Web pages should be clear from clutter and all elements that may distract a visitor for the actual converting into a customer.

So before you sign up for a feature-rich yet low cost shopping cart solution like InstanteStore, ensure you brush up on your ecommerce jargon.

Viral marketing, just like any category of online marketing campaign, aims to drive as much traffic to a site as possible. It actually leverages on the numbers game: the more traffic that ends up at your site, the higher the possible number of conversions.

Needless to say a viral marketing campaign has to work hand-in-hand with other factors of the page in order to convert visitors.

But what actually is viral marketing and how can you formulate a campaign yourself to assist drive traffic to your store?

Even a problem free shopping cart store software powered by a dependable yet free shopping cart e-store needs help in the marketing department. It takes a bit of strategy to let people out there know that your store exists (and is worth visiting).

Online Marketing

Online marketing has a lot to do with content. And so it has been said that content is king. But the content has to fit the medium in which it’s used and it has to seize viewers’ interest in order to be of any value. The subject of an online marketing campaign does not entirely have to be a product or service or something that is already being sought-after. It is possible for ad campaigns to create interest about new products as well as improve brand awareness for existing ones. The wonderful news is that an online marketing campaign need not cost you an arm and a leg.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is not a hard concept just as long as you know what you are doing. Viral marketing makes extensive use of existing resources on the Internet. This potentially include micro-blogging sites like Twitter, social networking sites like Facebook, video sharing sites like YouTube, and of course e-mail to get the word across. All these resources can get “interesting or worthy” news out fast at an exponential rate. Take the viral marketing campaign for the movie Cloverfield for instance. The marketing team opted for an indirect approach by producing teasers and micro sites instead of just a traditional movie trailer. That created such a buzz that the marketing practically took care of itself after just a few weeks. Keep in mind, the campaign was spread out over a year. Every few months bits of information were released, rumors were spread and theories suggested for the sole purpose of raising awareness and keeping people hooked. Of course, the strategy proved to be a success.

Of course, this road may not be for everyone. You need to know your target market and what would appeal to them.

What Makes News Or Updates Worthy Of Being Repeated?

Conventionally, people like free stuff and they also like heavy discounts. Therefore, these free or discounted items should have a high perceived value among the masses for your campaign to garner any interest at all. Let’s say you want to announce a mid-year sale for your online ladies shoe store. You need to take note that many other stores might be doing the same thing as you. You could use the resources mentioned above to promote your sale, while always making sure your titles and descriptions are SEO-friendly. Now, women love shoes. And I would guess that they love free shoes even more. Why not come up with a contest that challenges people to guess the size or weight of a certain pair of shoes. The first 10 correct entries will be given gift vouchers worth $100 each and the next 50 correct entries will be rewarded with a 50% discount coupon. Done correctly, word of mouth about your store and its offer can spread quickly to more and more potential clients.

Another good example is a recent viral marketing campaign by an online camera store that is giving 2 very desirable cameras for free to participants at random. The catch: in order to be eligible for consideration, participants must first Retweet or publish on a blog the ad line containing a link to the store. A dishonest way to get links as well as get the word across, isn’t it?

Cost

You don’t have to develop a teaser video like the one for Cloverfield to spread the word. Many artists and companies on a shoestring budget have produced successful viral marketing videos of varying degrees of quality. As an example, The Blair Witch Project (whatever you may think of the actual movie) was a small-budget movie with one influential viral marketing campaign. The bottom line is that if your marketing materials are captivating enough and you have fully utilized the channels we mentioned earlier, then you can look forward to a bombardment of visits in a relatively short period of time.

Viral marketing is great for marketing a new web store. Just make sure you have all your bases covered first. Ensure you’ve first signed up for a worry simple ecommerce shopping cart solution. A feature-rich, easy-to-use free shopping cart e-store like the one from InstanteStore is a good bet. Once you’ve got all your basics done and you have your store set up and tested, you’re ready to allow the world know you’re in business. Good luck!

Viral marketing, just like any category of online marketing campaign, aims to drive as much traffic to a site as possible. It actually leverages on the numbers game: the more traffic that ends up at your site, the higher the possible number of conversions.

Needless to say a viral marketing campaign has to work hand-in-hand with other factors of the page in order to convert visitors.

But what actually is viral marketing and how can you formulate a campaign yourself to assist drive traffic to your store?

Even a problem free shopping cart store software powered by a dependable yet free shopping cart e-store needs help in the marketing department. It takes a bit of effort to let people out there know that your store exists (and is worth visiting).

Online Marketing

Online marketing has a lot to do with content. And so it has been said that content is king. But the content has to fit the medium in which it’s used and it has to seize viewers’ interest in order to be of any value. The subject of an online marketing campaign does not entirely have to be a product or service or something that is already being sought-after. It is possible for ad campaigns to generate interest about new products as well as improve brand awareness for existing ones. The wonderful news is that an online marketing campaign need not cost you an arm and a leg.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is not a perplexing concept just as long as you know what you are doing. Viral marketing makes extensive use of existing resources on the Internet. This potentially include micro-blogging sites like Twitter, social networking sites like Facebook, video sharing sites like YouTube, and of course e-mail to get the word across. All these resources can get “interesting or worthy” news out fast at an exponential rate. Take the viral marketing campaign for the movie Cloverfield for instance. The marketing team opted for an indirect approach by producing teasers and micro sites instead of just a traditional movie trailer. That created such a buzz that the marketing practically took care of itself after just a few weeks. Keep in mind, the campaign was spread out over a year. Every few months bits of information were released, rumors were spread and theories suggested for the sole purpose of raising awareness and keeping people hooked. Of course, the strategy proved to be a success.

Of course, this road may not be for everyone. You need to know your target market and what would appeal to them.

What Makes News Or Updates Worthy Of Being Repeated?

Conventionally, people like free stuff and they also like heavy discounts. Hence,, these free or discounted items should have a high perceived value among the masses for your campaign to garner any interest at all. Let’s say you want to announce a mid-year sale for your online ladies shoe store. You need to remember that many other stores might be doing the same thing as you. You could use the resources mentioned above to promote your sale, while always making sure your titles and descriptions are SEO-friendly. Now, women love shoes. And I would guess that they love free shoes even more. Why not come up with a contest that challenges people to guess the size or weight of a certain pair of shoes. The first 10 correct entries will be given gift vouchers worth $100 each and the next 50 correct entries will be rewarded with a 50% discount coupon. Done correctly, word of mouth about your store and its offer can spread quickly to more and more potential customers.

Another good example is a recent viral marketing campaign by an online camera store that is giving 2 very desirable cameras for free to participants at random. The catch: in order to be eligible for consideration, participants must first Retweet or publish on a blog the ad line containing a link to the store. A sneaky way to get links as well as get the word across, isn’t it?

Cost

You don’t have to develop a teaser video like the one for Cloverfield to spread the word. A relatively large number of artists and companies on a shoestring budget have produced successful viral marketing videos of varying degrees of quality. For instance, The Blair Witch Project (whatever you may think of the actual movie) was a small-budget movie with one influential viral marketing campaign. The bottom line is that if your marketing materials are captivating enough and you have fully utilized the channels we mentioned earlier, then you can look forward to a bombardment of visits in a relatively short period of time.

Viral marketing is great for marketing a new web store. Just make sure you have all your bases covered first. Ensure you’ve first signed up for a worry simple ecommerce shopping cart solution. A feature-rich, easy-to-use free shopping cart web store like the one from InstanteStore is a good bet. Once you’ve got all your basics done and you have your store set up and tested, you’re ready to allow the world know you’re in business. Good luck!