Throughout the month of November we will be running our “SMB blog series.” While SMB traditionally refers to “Small/Medium Business,” here at Volusion it has come to mean something else: “Small Made Big.” This month we will be sharing resources, tips, stats, and inspirations to help you turn your small ecommerce endeavor into something greater- something BIG!

If you’re a regular reader you’ve probably noticed that we run a Volusion success story about once a month. Each success story features a Volusion client that has made it big with their business. If you haven’t read them, here’s a quick summary of our most recent success stories, as well as the business lesson to take away from each story:

• HockeyShot
  In two years, JP Brun managed to create one of the busiest hockey training sites on the web. His clientele ranges from beginners to international hockey stars and his markets include the US, Canada, and all of Europe. Moving to Volusion’s platform gave his company the boost in efficiency that they needed to be able to grow the business by more than 300% last year.
  Business Lesson: Choosing the right tools can have a huge impact on the future of your business!
• AceTool
  In the three years that Maria Polidoro has had her online store with Volusion, it has climbed the search engine ranks and now is surpassing most of its competitors in the highly competitive industry of hand and power tools. Their SEO investments have paid off significantly!
  Business Lesson: Invest in your future! (more…)
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Throughout the month of November we will be running our “SMB blog series.” While SMB traditionally refers to “Small/Medium Business,” here at Volusion it has come to mean something else: “Small Made Big.” This month we will be sharing resources, tips, stats, and inspirations to help you turn your small ecommerce endeavor into something greater- something BIG!

It’s important for all business owners to stay on top of industry information, but as a small business owner, it’s even more important to understand the business landscape! Running a small business, you have less room for error so you’ll want to make sure you have as much information as possible when making decisions that will affect the future of your business.

Blogs are an excellent way to get the essential news, tips, resources, and advice you need to run your small online business! Here are some great business blogs to follow on a regular basis:

• Duct Tape Marketing
  Duct tape is an absolute essential, and so is this blog. Just look at the Duct Tape Marketing blog’s  extensive left-hand navigation of blog topics and you’ll know why it’s a must-read for small business owners.
• All Business- The Small Business Blog
  Small Business expert Reiva Lesonsky updates The Small Business Blog weekly with straightforward and passionate entrepreneur insight.
• Small Business Trends
  Like their name would imply, Small Business Trends keeps tabs on all of the breaking trends that impact every aspect of your business. They also maintain an extensive list of ongoing business events. (more…)
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In keeping with holiday traditions Shop.Org published the results of their holiday shopping survey. This year, many retailers and industry experts were hedging their bets that the slow economy would necessitate that retailers use extensive promotional offers to bring in customers and drive sales. What they found, however, was that savings didn’t top the list of what would drive purchase decisions this year.

Survey respondents were asked, “When choosing to make holiday purchases from a given online retailer, what is most important to you?” Their top five answers were as follows:

1. Being able to see the shopping cart total before checkout
   Surprisingly enough, consumers reported that the number one thing that would determine if they purchased from an online store or went elsewhere was whether or not they could see the total of their order before beginning to checkout.
   The ability for consumers to place items in their cart, and view their total after any additional fees (such as taxes and shipping and handling) before entering their personal information topped the list of factors that would make or break their purchase decision. This sentiment is likely due to the fact that being able to get an order total without having to enter any personal information makes comparison shopping faster and more secure for customers.
   Tip: If you’re requiring that customers sign up for an email list or register as a user before purchasing, you’ll definitely want to consider restructuring your checkout process before the holidays!
   
2. Clear product descriptions
   During the holidays consumers do not want to have to guess about the products they are browsing because they’re on a time schedule. They need to find which products will fit their specific gift-giving needs, order them, and get them in time for the holidays. If a product may not be exactly what they are looking for, they will not take a chance and order it anyway; they will go elsewhere and find a store that reassures them that they are getting exactly what they need.
   Tip: Try to include as many product specs as you can to influence customers that are looking for something in particular. Remember, product specs are not just limited to things like size dimensions and weight; they can also include things like age ratings for toys, size suggestions for apparel, type of accessories included, etc. (more…)
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Throughout the month of November we will be running our “SMB blog series.” While SMB traditionally refers to “Small/Medium Business,” here at Volusion it has come to mean something else: “Small Made Big.” This month we will be sharing resources, tips, stats, and inspirations to help you turn your small ecommerce endeavor into something greater- something BIG!

You don’t need to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to have a great looking web design! Here are some examples of Volusion stores with great looking designs to inspire and motivate your own web design dreams:

• AimeeJ



• AndreaLucilleDesigns


(more…)

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Anyone running an online store knows the story- a potential customer visits your site, browses your products, places one in their cart, and then leaves without buying. The next thing you know, your admin area is littered with more abandoned carts than a super market parking lot, prompting you to ask “What do I do now?”

Don’t Let Them Go!

Recently one of our forum users shared his company’s method for dealing with abandoned carts: “We currently send out emails to all abandoned carts that have an email attached asking if they had a problem and offering options to fix that problem (such as flat rate shipping we do not offer normally). We find at least half the time it’s just a small error and they are eager to place the order. We convert probably 80% of the people we contact.”

Obviously this tactic isn’t going to work if the customer left before entering any personal information, but contacting customers that have abandoned their carts is a great idea if you have the information to be able to do so.

Make the Sale

When you contact the customer offer them an incentive to return and complete their order. (more…)

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