That may seem like an obvious statement; let me say it in a way that I think really sums it up for me:

You don't become successful by giving up

All the publications, TV and mentoring organisations hold up examples of successful businesses and the people behind them. They tell you to listen to their story, learn from what they've done and use their example as inspiration.

But I think that the single most important thing to understand is something these successful people have in common - they never gave up, they had absolute belief in what they did and that confidence helped drive them to their destination - success!

Short and simple:

Success = not giving up

According to a report by the BBC today Shildon in County Durham has the highest incidence of fraudulent internet purchases. They cite internet Internet Security company The Third Man's research showing that 24% of all online purchases in Shilden were made using stolen credit card details.

Clearly, these figures are skewed by the actions of a small group of individuals who are very active, Shildon is a small town with a population of around 10,000. So anything they do make the figures look very bad, when in fact the percentage of the local population committing internet and card fraud is probably no higher than most places in the UK.

My advice is to treat this kind of report with a health warning but be wary of accepting orders that appear even the slighest bit out of the ordinary.

However, it does highlight that security and trust is still an issue in e-commerce. With an ever increasing number of webshops appearing and then, when the orders don't flood in, the businesses behind them disappearing but leaving the site live or simply taking money with no intention of fulfilling the order customer trust is going to be the next big issue for online traders to tackle.

There have been a number online trust marks set up, many of them check the validity of the webshop business at first application and award the trust mark when the fee has been paid.

However, many of these trust marks remain on the dormant website even though the business has folded, thereby giving a false sense of security to the online shopper.

If you decide to add a trust mark to your own online shop look for one that provides a live verification link so that your prospective customer can see up to date information about your trading status.

An example of this can be seen on a number of our users' sites; have a look at www.clootietree.com for an example of Checkrate's system.

As a final thought on this subject I'd like to say that our experience shows that the majority of online shoppers and businesses are trustworthy, rely on your instincts - if a sale seems dodgy then it probably is so decline it (ensure your sales terms have a clause declaring your right to refuse orders).

Approach

Site Proposition

The most crucial task is for there to be objectives set for the site.
This should include consideration of:

• Objectives of the business as a whole


• Objectives of the overall sales and marketing strategy


• Define where the website fits within the sales and marketing strategy

By defining the above it is then possible to:

• Define what the website should deliver in measurable terms




• Brand awareness


• Enquiries


• Sales


• Delivery of downloadable items


• Client functionality (such as upload and management of assets/collateral)


• Regular communications


• News and new developments in marketing sector




• Retarget site content to achieve objectives set


• Add analytics to measure results of activity

Technical Considerations

• Build site in XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS and ensure compliance with W3C validation criteria


• Employ divs and CSS for layout markup


• Reduce reliance on Flash items, where they do occur use more efficient code to embed swf files


• Remove all tables except for display of tabular data


• Increase use of plain text and text links

Search Terms and Web Marketing

• Based on business and site objectives define target market


• Use target market profile to research critical search terms
• Expand search terms to 'cast a wider net'


• Include common misspellings and incorrect terminology words

Content Generation

• Write targeted text content that meets site objectives; include critical search terms and their derivatives in body text.


• Add critical terms and derivatives to relevant title tags


• Add 'converting text'* descriptions for meta descriptions


• Add misspellings and incorrect terminology to meta keywords

Text content is a fundamental part of Search Engine Optimisation:

• Concentrate core messages on the home page


• Create a magazine/blog style news and developments section – ensure this is updated regularly


• REMEMBER, communicate benefits to the clients NOT all about you - the site is not a vanity mirror
• Include clear and obvious calls to action - what do you want the visitor to do next?


• Provide sign up for regular opt in mail outs - create a database of prospects to keep in touch with

* 'Converting text' is a summary of the page content that convinces people to click on your link in a search engine rather than one that leads to another site. Again this should focus on BENEFITS.

I've got loads of things to say that can be categorised as 'rules of business' but it's taken me ages to add this second rule.

Build Sales Before Anything Else

In my business career, and especially since I started running Shopfitter E-commerce, I've seen lots of businesses come and go, and watched many different management and operational styles, some more effective than others.

Observing and analysing these styles is interesting; there's a certain group of people, usually the newly self employed, who seem to do anything rather than work on selling their products or services.

What interests them the most is the process of creating what they do rather than the business of making money from what they do.

I can quite understand this, doing what you enjoy is more fun than doing something that you don't but the crux of the matter is that if you don't sell enough you'll go bust.

Sales are the fuel of business

By avoiding actively selling what you've got you're just waiting for the inevitable failure of your business.

I've seen people messing around with their stock lists, convinced that the reason they aren't making sales is because they only have 200 items on offer instead of 2000.

Others who keep 'improving' their product so put off releasing them until they've got them 'perfect'. One company has spent four years (and counting) doing this, holding back their sales and marketing people and constantly burning through their investors cash.

Whatever the reason the outcome is going to be the same; the cash reserves decline, staff and suppliers don't get paid, new stock can't be bought...

Actively selling your wares brings money in to fund all these things, it provides you with the opportunity to refine your offering (because you get real customer feedback) and evolve your business.

For many small business owners selling is difficult, scary and unpleasant, but using excuses not to sell leads you away from the success you can achieve.

In summary, don't put off starting to sell what you've got for any reason (other than legal ones) and you put yourself ahead of at least 50% of business startups.

Good luck in your sales.