Running an online business can be confusing and frustrating, especially if you have limited knowledge of Internet marketing. With many options including SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay-per-click advertising), website development, and email marketing, successful promotion of your business is the only way to be noticed by those surfing millions of pages online.

In addition to online marketing, you will also have to provide quality customer service and manage all paperwork and invoices. This includes taking orders, shipping orders, allowing orders to be returned or replaced if they have been damaged during the shipping process, and making sure you have enough office and shipping supplies to keep up with the number of orders you need to process.

COMMON SMALL BUSINESS ISSUES

The four most common issues faced by online business owners today include:

Internet marketing
Bookkeeping
Efficient ordering and shipping process
Time management

As the Internet becomes more competitive, your day-to-day business practices are more important than ever. If customers feel you aren’t providing quality goods and services, they can very easily take their business elsewhere.

In order to become successful in online business, you will need to develop savvy marketing techniques, solid business management solutions, and finding ways to ensure quality products are shipped to customers in a timely manner.

Internet Marketing

Since the time you spend marketing your business can mean the difference between making one sale or one hundred sales, it is important to devise a marketing plan and track it for a few weeks to determine how successful it is and if changes need to be made.

Keeping track of all the places you market your product can be difficult, so creating spreadsheets or using tools provided by your web host are recommended. You can also invest in integrated e-commerce packages that can help you manage all your marketing efforts quickly and easily.

Bookkeeping

Not only do you have to track marketing campaigns, you will also have to track the amount you earn each month, the number of orders you fill, maintain customer accounts, and update your website whenever you add new products or discontinue others.

Staying organized is one of the best ways to ensure quality customer service and satisfaction. Investing in bookkeeping software can help make this process much easier.

Efficient Ordering and Shipping Process

An efficient ordering and shipping process means you process orders as quickly as possible so they can be shipped within a few days. Depending on how many orders you need to fill each day, you can create a schedule to follow that includes specific days during the week that orders are shipped.

The way you receive orders should also be addressed. While you can rely on standard email, your inbox may become full quickly. You may not be able to empty it fast enough. This could result in lost orders and loss of customers.

Time Management

One of the biggest constraints you will face as a small business owner is time. There never seems to be enough of it, especially when you want to address the other three issues mentioned above. When evaluating your business, you will have many questions such as:

How can I help my small business compete with others online?

Is there more than one way to provide excellent customer service?

Where will I find the time to market my business while processing orders and managing other tasks?

To answer these questions, you will need to take into consideration the amount of time you have for the following:

Updating your website
Creating marketing campaigns and strategies
Managing customer accounts
Process and ship orders
Maintain bookkeeping records for tax and business management purposes

While you could hire additional employees, if you are just starting out, there may not be enough revenue to support additional help in the beginning.

INTEGRATED E-COMMERCE

Once you have pinpointed areas within your business that need improvement, it is time to find solutions that not only suit your business needs, but also your financial ones.

One solution to these issues are Integrated e-commerce packages from companies like Xeroncommerce.com that could make running an online business more enjoyable. You will be able to create an online shop where you can list and sell products, track marketing efforts, create customer accounts, and even handle various types of payment from customers.

Other features include:

Easy to customize web pages (upload product descriptions, pictures, prices, ordering pages, and other pages)

Ability to take orders and send customer invoices

Shipping options (UPS, FEDEX, etc.)

Sell products on ebay

Track orders as they are being shipped/confirm pick-up by customers

Web hosting services provided

Keep track of office supplies

Create email lists for viral marketing campaigns

As you can see, there are many features you can take advantage of when running your business. Many you can control from the admin panel instead of having to invest in separate computer programs, bookkeeping software, or utilizing various web tools provided by search engines and web hosts. Being able to monitor sales, marketing campaigns, and customer accounts at the same time is a time saver and allows you to focus on other issues such as customer service.

With integrated e-commerce, you will have more time to focus on marketing, fulfilling and shipping orders, and bookkeeping.

MAINTAINING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

A successful online business is one that adapts to:

customer demand

ensures quality customer service by providing easy ordering and fast shipping

utilizes different marketing strategies to attract a wide variety of customers

By having marketing, ordering and shipping, and website design tools in one place, you will save time, reduce stress, and begin to reap the benefits of an online business that will continue to grow and change over time.

Henrik Gehrmann is the CEO of XeronCommerce, Inc.

XeronCommerce provides eShops with online management portals for small businesses. Offering an integrated e-commerce package to market, sell and manage products online.

XeronCommerce was founded in 2005 and is located in San Jose, California. Beginning with specialized solutions, products have matured over several years of development. The development team consists of experienced Software and QA Engineers, as well as UI and Web Developers that work to build the best, flexible and integrated e-commerce application to meet client needs.

XeronCommerce
21265 Stevens Creek Blvd
Suite 205-323
Cupertino, CA 95014
Phone: (408) 375-2724
Fax: (408) 273-6751
info@xeroncommerce.com