ValidSafe.com

When it comes to making your business ecommerce ready, you have to make sure that you have everything in order. Many people believe that all it takes to be successful with ecommerce, is putting up a website. They think it’s as simple as pie. The website goes up, and the business begins.

If you are in the midst of building your business, you will find that this is a very false way to approach things. You have probably learned by now, that in order to be successful in your ecommerce business–just like in a brick and mortar business–you have to have an effective plan in place. If you don’t have a comprehensive plan of action, you have a long, and hard process ahead of you.

So how do you go about this? First you have to choose your site design, then you want to select the proper software for your shopping cart management. You will then have a good platform to sell your product. You want to make sure that you choose one of the premier shopping cart providers online, so that your customers will feel that you are professional, and will feel comfortable to work with you.

You must do the research, and then make the choice. Don’t just choose your cart before understanding if the software can meet your needs. If you have not chosen your site design already, you might want to consider using a template for you site. Many shopping cart companies have templates available, that will compliment the shopping cart you are planning to use perfectly.

You should have your site logo professionally designed, and make it memorable and professional. Next your site should be optimized so that it is SEO friendly. This is very important

You can also track the performance of your site once it is up by using a heat map service. These services will allow you to see where your customers–or potential customers–are clicking most on your site. Google offers a free tool to do this as well. Before you upload your product offerings, check out your competition and make sure the price ranges you’re offering your products at are not very high. You will not make any sales if you are being undersold all over the Internet.

Lastly, you must convey trust to your potential customers. Nobody will buy from you if they don’t trust you, and that’s why trust should be one of the things that you invest in to improve your sales.

If you want to improve your ecommerce business, then you have to understand the customers that you want to attract and please. The main goal of ecommerce business improvement is the enticement of new customers, the desire to make more money, or the desire to please, and retain the customers that you currently have. Whatever your reasons for business improvement, there are a few things you must take into account to improve your business properly. First off, if you have customers, listen to what they have to say. If your customers are willing to give you suggestions on how to better serve them, take their valuable advice.

Next you want to update your website. You might want to modernize or improve it in some way. You also want to make sure that your site is professional. You don’t want your website to look tacky, cheap, or like a dishonest person is running the site. You must also insure that your page is properly optimized to attract the business you’d like to attract.

In order to improve your ecommerce business, there are many things that you will want to upgrade, and make sure are in the best working order possible. First and foremost, your website should be an effective business, tool. Your site should convert, and convince the customers that you draw to it to trust you, and buy from you. You can accomplish these feats with a simple and basic site, but you have to make sure that your site covers all the bases.

What is Important?

• Organized, easy navigation
• Search engine optimized
• A site that is good looking
• A site that appears trustworthy

The next important thing you have to understand when you are trying to improve your ecommerce business is that true marketing must have some place in your plans. If you have designed an effective website, that is only one part of the equation. You must also market your website effectively in order to make sure that people find it. Without marketing, a website is, for all intents and purposes, lost at sea, without hope of rescue, or human contact, from anyone other than your friends and family.

When it comes to the idea of making money, this is quite a sad way to think of your new online ecommerce business, but it is the truth. Your website is not located on a popular street corner in your local town. Nobody is just going to pop in, unless you tell them to through effective marketing techniques. Nobody is just going to buy anything as well, unless you look like you’re a legit and trustworthy operation.

There are many reasons that you might want to start your own ecommerce business. Most find the process of building, and maintaining an ecommerce business to be very rewarding.

What most people don’t understand–that you must, if you’re serious–is that building an ecommerce business will require some work, and maintenance on your part. It is not as easy at some people will lead you to believe. Many people think that starting an ecommerce business is very easy, because it seems to them that people that have found success with ecommerce, just got lucky over the years as the internet grew in popularity In most cases, luck has very little to do with online ecommerce success.

Most people that have become successful with an online ecommerce business, have done so after some significant research, and hard work. For many of these individuals, the hard work was enjoyable, and did ease up significantly over time. But there was still work involved. If you are able to accept these things, then maybe starting an ecommerce business will work out well for you.

But you can’t expect an ecommerce business to be something that will let you get rich quick, this is not realistic. The first step to complete when starting on your online business is to make sure that you understand the legal ramifications of running your business. You want to make sure that you’ve got all of your legal bases covered. If you want to be taken seriouslsy by both other business people, and the government, you want to make sure that you’re legitimate. Many people make the mistake of not covering their legal bases, simply because their principle business is an online one.

At the most basic level, you must have verifiable contact information, especially if you’re a new ecommerce business. This information verifies that you are serious, and that you want your customers to be able to reach you, and other matters. The next thing you must do is begin to develop your business website. You will need a portal to sell your products, or market your services. It may seem like designing a website should be simple, but it is not. You want to make sure that you design a site that is appealing for others to use, easy to understand, and attractive.

A Consumer Reports survey found that over 94% of people would like to know the email address, street address and phone number of the website that they are dealing with. Our site seals assures your customers that your contact information is verified, that you are following accepted business practices, and that you are serious about doing business with them. The following are some features common to all our site seals:

	IVS207 Certified Trust Seal	Business Site Trust Seal	Privacy Site Trust Seal	Security Site Trust Seal
Website Uptime Monitoring
DNSBL/RBL IP Blacklist Monitoring
Different Sizes
Customisable Seal w/ Domain Name
Simplified Setup Process
30-day Money-back Guarantee

For all our seals, your contact person’s information is kept private and separate from your business contact information. In addition, our seals all come with options such as to hide your phone number, if you operate from home and only have a residential number. For any other requests, please feel free to contact us.

Business Site Trust Seal

The Business Seal proves your company identity and establish your company’s reliability, credibility, and trustworthiness with your customers. To become business verified we will have a live member to confirm your company information, website information, and conduct a personal call in with your support person.

To qualify for this Trust Seal you must have: Website URL Business Mailing Address Business Phone Number Business Email Address Contact Person’s Name and Basic Information

Privacy Site Trust Seal

The Privacy Seal demonstrates that your company will not sell or disclose any information customers provide to a third party without permission. To become privacy verified we need to have your website’s privacy statement addressing what information you may disclose to a third party and what you will do with your customers’ information (email addresses, credit card number, personal information, etc).

To qualify for this Trust Seal you must have: Website URL Business Mailing Address Business Phone Number Business Email Address Privacy Policy Statement

Security Site Trust Seal

The Security Seal assures customers that any information they provide to your website is secured and protected. To become security verified we need to check your website information, your SSL certificate provider, certificate expiration date, information collection pages.

To qualify for this Trust Seal you must have: Website URL Business Mailing Address Business Phone Number Business Email Address Validated SSL Certificate (or third party security certificate) Pages that collect customer data are SSL-protected

Complete Site Trust Seal

Qualified websites that pass all our seals should consider a complete site seal package that comes with all our site seals with an additional ValidSafe™ Website Verified Site Seal to extend the highest level of trust to your customers.

To qualify for this Trust Seal you must have: Website URL Business Mailing Address Business Phone Number Business Email Address Contact Person’s Name and Basic Information Privacy Policy Statement Validated SSL Certificate (or third party security certificate) Pages that collect customer data are SSL-protected

IVS207 Certified Trust Seal (Free for life!)

The IVS (Identity Verification Standards) 207 Seal proves your email address is operational and functional, and provides a basic means for your customers to see that your company has spent consideration in the areas of trust and certification. To become IVS207 verified we will have a step-by-step procedure to validate your company’s email address.

To qualify for this Trust Seal you must have: Website URL Business Email Address Contact Person’s Name and Basic Information

ValidSafe Trust Seals are oftentimes the deciding factor that will motivate your visitors to choose to do business with your website rather than your competitor’s. Our Trust Seals convey to your prospect that an independent, third-party vendor has verified your information, and consequently, that it is safe to do business with your website.

ValidSafe provides a simple and effective way for you to establish professionalism and trustworthiness for your website. By showing that you are willing to invest in third-party verification, it shows online shoppers the validity of your website, increases their trust, and ultimately boosts your sales.

Increasing Your Trustworthiness

ValidSafe was established as an independent, third-party identity verification vendor, and our Trust Seals work to boost your website’s trustworthiness, and subsequently increase sales for you.

ValidSafe Trust Seals are updated daily with proof of date, and have a popup link to our certification servers that prove the legitimacy of your website. When buyers see that there is an actual company operating behind your website, and that you are willing to display your contact information that is verified by a trusted third-party, then this increases their confidence in you, and assures them that it is safe to purchase from your website.

In comparison, an online store can only show buyers a visual representation – pictures, or at best, videos – of their products. A case study shows that 58.19% of shoppers doubt the reliability of pictures showed in online stores. In addition, online buyers have to risk paying via the Internet, providing sensitive information about themselves such as their name, address, phone number, and credit card number. A myriad of thoughts run through their minds, some of which are commonly these top five:

• Does this website look shady?
• Who runs this website?
• Is it safe to pay through their website?
• What if they run away with my money?
• If I give them my email address, will I be spammed?

When a visitor first reaches your website, it needs to conveys the trust needed for him to even consider the other factors about your product or service. Does your website convey this trust effectively? Online shoppers have different needs as compared to people shopping at brick-and-mortar stores.

In a typical brick-and-mortar store, buyers can see, touch, and even try the physical products. They can see the legitimacy of a store with the owners or employees standing right in front of them. When they make a payment, they receive the correct change and a receipt immediately. All these factors make shopping in brick-and-mortar stores smooth, easy, and worry-free for shoppers. Does your website convey this trust?