Jeff has an eCommerce site with Squarespace and they have an abandonment cart feature. Is it worth the money? is there another way to see that without paying the price for it? Leo says that it may be worth it if sales are brisk. According to studies, up to 70% of sales are abandoned before the sale is completed, so having those analytics could be beneficial. Leo recommends calling SquareSpace and ask for a free trial.
Done works for a small publisher and has eCommerce on their website, but they're not satisfied with their web host. What does Leo recommend? Leo says that Squarespace, who is a sponsor, is great. They're very secure and have excellent service and support. You can even do a two-week trial to see if you like it. There's also Soft Layer and WordPress.com.
Leo also uses Drupal for TechGuyLabs.com, and he recommends BlackMesh, Heroku, and Contegix for managing your Drupal systems.
Vinny wants to create an eCommerce site. He was thinking of using SquareSpace, but he's also looking at Wordpress and Wix.
Russ is having trouble buying things online. The site he's using won't take his payments. Leo says that's likely due to the browser Russ is using that doesn't support the current SSL encryption standards. Leo recommends using another browser like Chrome. Since Russ is using Vista, Chrome doesn't support it either. It may be time to get a new computer if he wants to shop online.
Gary's wife wants to buy something online, but she can't put items in the cart. Leo says it could be a browser issue. Most carts use Javascript and if it becomes corrupt or if it can't save a cookie, then it won't be able to do that. Gary should try a different browser like Chrome and see if that works. He could also try resetting the browser.
Brett makes jewelry and sells it online. She needs a good camera to take pictures of her products. Leo says that any point and shoot would work, even a modern camera phone. There are guides on how to photograph an object that will improve her sales. It should be shot with a photo softbox using lights and a diffuser. Leo likes the Canon ELPH for a camera though.
Check out Brett's website at Petsadelic.com.
For the first time ever, online sales during this past holiday season were greater than sales from brick and mortar establishments. Leo says that while it's not surprising that more people are shopping online, it is surprising that it took this long for more people to embrace it than shopping in a physical store.
Richard is starting a drop shipping business and wants to know about eCommerce options. Leo says that Amazon is the first option that leaps to mind.
Eric from Chino, CA called to recommend that Richard call his local unified school district to find out who's good. He should ask for the purchasing department and ask for a list of drop shippers.
Piam has a website to sell a home based fire suppressant. He wants a simple system that makes it easy to update. He uses Populr.me and it's just not easy. Leo says it's not cheap either. Sure they give him stats, but a good web host will do that as well. They don't use eCommerce either, which is what Piam needs. They also mislead people as to who uses their service, and they make an ad for their service on his paid site. Piam really wants to have eCommerce built in since he's trying to sell something.
Brandon would like to create affiliate links so that he'll get a percentage of the sale. Leo says that Amazon was one of the early pioneers with this. Brandon could check out ClickSure.com, which would allow him to do this.
Check out this Wikipedia page on Affiliate Marketing for information on the history of affiliate marketing online, and the pros and cons of these programs.
