So here are the 5 key sucess factors for your online shop:

1. Identify attractive products and a niche market

Products sold in your online shop need to be attractive to be well positioned. Those products need to reach a niche market, e.g. consumer groups reached with difficulty on a high street store. Selling online enables you to address a large demand and therefore enable you to propose attractive prices. You have the possibility to present your products in an easy to find way and the consumer can purchase those products at any time.

2. Attract more visitors on your site

Appropriate marketing instruments will help you to attract more visitors, such as Search Engine Optimization, Keyword advertising, Email marketing, partner programs and also public relation actions. Web-controlling also guide you which marketing actions you should take and to control the result of those.

3. Increase conversion with appropriate usability

Beside the structure of your online shop, it is important to give a fun component to spend money online. A few aspects making your online shop friendly to use and responding to consumer needs will definitly help you: transparency of the product offer, search functionality providing expected results, clarity of the ordering process, exhaustive indication of prices (incl. shipping costs), correct wording for right of withdrawal.

4. Boost confidence with serious references

Confidence is key in e-commerce. An online shop is very often unkwnown from the consumer, the product has not been seen, payment and data privacy are mostly considered as a risk. Your have to give the consumer the ultimate peace of mind in order to convert a visitor into a buyer. Appropriate references such as proven quality seal (e.g. Trusted Shops) will definitly help you.

5. Guarantee a perfect customer service

Once you have achieved to convert the visitor into a buyer, you must provide oustanding services, also to keep him as a regular customer. Make sure payments are done correctly and inform the consumer when those are done. Deliver your products timely as communicated. Provide shipping status information and return process information. Otherwise your customer, and maybe other potential customers, might not return on your website. Additional services such as money back guarantee and customer service give the consumer entire satisfaction.

Here are this weeks 5 tips from selected blog authors:

1. E-Mail Subject: 8 Dos & 4 Don’ts from Marketing Case Studies

2. XML Sitemaps, guidelines on their use from SEOmoz

3. Amazon Checkout: Pros and Cons from Get Elastic

4. 5 steps to maximize online sales from ecommerce insights

5. Handling poor performing Keywords von Get Elastic