Internet Business Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

If your small business is lacking new customers during this economic downtime, go back to the basics!  Keeping in touch with your past clients and prospects will keep your business on the front of their mind.  When someone mentions your line of work, they will be thinking of you and hopefully mention you and your business to your clients!

One of the best ways for a small business to keep in touch with clients is through post cards.  Specifically pre stamped post cards.  When your post cards are sitting on your desk with stamps already on them, you’re much more likely to write a short note to one of your clients or prospects.

My favorite way to use this postcard marketing method is to send a note to people who don’t expect it and say “Thank You”.  I sent one to my mechanic at the Ford dealership.  I also sent one to a seamstress that fixed a few pairs of pants for me.  Last month I sent out about 15 post cards to people that didn’t expect it.  All I said was, “Thanks for _____.  I’m glad I have someone like you I can trust!”

Keep it simple, you just want them to know what you do and how to contact you.

This is the second post in our series, 5 Reasons Why Your Website Doesn’t Sell. You can also read post #1 about payment types.

2. It’s hard to place an order

Have you ever left a checkout line because it took too long? Or have you abandoned an online shopping cart out of confusion?

So have your customers! If your shopping cart system is difficult or hard to use, you’re losing sales.

Gather some data

Most popular e-commerce systems have some valuable data that you need to examine. You should be able to see shopping carts that your customers abandoned.

If you don’t know how to view this information, contact your support team. They’ll help you find out.

With this data, you can tell if your ordering process is turning customers away. Some customers might abandon carts due to other reasons, but a portion of them can be attributed to your order process.

Clear instructions

People hate guessing when they’re trying to buy something. They put their thinking into the purchase decision. If you make them think too hard during checkout, they’ll just leave.

Make sure each step of your checkout process has clear instructions. Walk the customer through it in plain English, even if it seems really easy to you.

Friendly errors

Cryptic error messages just confuse buyers. Unless they’re really motivated to purchase right now, they’ll probably give up.

Since there are lots of errors that could happen during checkout, make sure the messages are friendly and informative. Give the customer directions on how to fix the error. And if possible, provide an alternate order method, such as a toll-free phone number.

Few steps

People like simplicity. You can’t draw out the order process over too many pages. But you also shouldn’t put every field on one page.

Strike a nice balance of 2-3 order pages. But also provide a visible key that shows the customer what step he’s on and what is left. People like seeing the big picture.

Always confirm

Data can get lost or mangled before it gets entered in your system’s database. That makes the process uncertain for the user.

To put your buyers at ease, confirm their information before the order is completed. Show them the address they entered, their total, the payment method chosen, etc. Make sure they’ve entered everything correctly.

How can you improve your order process?

Why aren’t people buying from your website? Our series, 5 Reasons Why Your Website Doesn’t Sell, will tell you why!

1. You Don’t Accept the Right Payment Method

How many payment methods do you accept? One or two? You’re losing sales!

What happens if a store doesn’t accept the payment method you want to use? You don’t buy from them. It’s not a coincidence that most brick & mortar stores accept cash, credit cards, and checks. These are the common payment methods!

What’s in your e-wallet?

Which payment types does your website accept? Sit down right now and make a list. Break it out as detailed as possible, including which types of credit cards, etc.

If you only accept 1 or 2 payment types, you’ve got work to do. If you accept 3 or more, you could still benefit from adding a couple new ones.

Let’s go through payment types you should be accepting.

Credit cards

This one’s a no-brainer. People use credit (and debit) cards to shop online. But are you accepting enough brands?

At minimum, your website should handle Visa and MasterCard. To gain more sales, try adding Discover and American Express.

Electronic checks

Not everyone has a credit card. And some people might just prefer to pay straight from their bank account. Using an e-check makes that possible.

An e-check uses the account & routing numbers from the purchaser’s checks to send a payment to you. Your shopping cart system will ask the purchaser to simply copy the numbers from an actual check. It’s easy!

PayPal

Frequent online shoppers typically have PayPal accounts. This allows the buyer to have a single online method of payment wherever he goes.

PayPal has been around a long time, and it’s not going away. In fact, PayPal even supports mobile phone payments!

Bill Me Later

This option enables buyers to pay you without a credit card or any other online account. Buyers simply select Bill Me Later at checkout, and they’re done. They obtain a credit line from Bill Me Later, and you get your sale today!

Any more?

Since you probably shop online, think about payment methods you’ve run across. Perhaps you even use them. Offer those on your website!!

What good online payment methods did we miss?