And while there are many reason that business and product ultimately don’t succeed you can reduce the risk by putting some effort in at the beginning to reduce this risk and validate the concept.

Below are some ways to validate your new business product, idea, app or concept.

1. Analyze Your Competition

Unless you have specifically developed a totally new concept then you will probably not be the first business to be marketing the product or idea. Yes there are totally unique concepts being released every day but by far the majority of products and concepts are variations, improvements or side steps on existing products and concepts. Savershop is a great example of this- they didn’t invent a new product (razors) -they came up with a new way to market the product (subscription based). Concepts such as Uber  are totally new but as I said majority of new business ventures will have existing competition and even if it is a new idea like Uber they still had existing competitors such as taxi services. (there is an argument that Uber is not a totally new concept but that is the topic for another post) So a good first step is to look to your competition to better understand demand and potential product appeal.

Although you’ll probably never know exactly how well your competition is doing, there are things you can uncover that can give some indication.

Find Your Competitors

The easiest way to discover your competitors is to do some simple Google searches for your product idea. It’s important to think like a potential customer and search for terms that customers would actually use.

Once you uncover a few key competitors, you can use free online tools like SimilarWeb and SEMrush to uncover others. There are also sites such as SpyFu which is a great resource to research what keywords and Adwords our competitors are using once you have found them via SimilarWeb.

As an example, I used Semrush to find out who was selling “rugby trophies” for a client and SemRush not only gave the top competitors actual competition pages but also the adwords Cost Per Click if I want to advertise with Google.

SimilarWeb and SEMrush can also provide additional details about your potential competitors including:

• Traffic Overview
• Geography of Traffic
• Referring Websites
• Search Keywords (Organic and Paid)
• Social Referrals

Reviewing the information with these tools is a good place to start understanding all of your competitors to get a good overview of what you’re up against.

You may also research how long they have been in business or online by doing a whois lookup on their domain name.

2. Understand the marketplace you are entering

Now with an idea of who your competitors are and how they are doing things, it’s time to look a little closer at the market and direct interest from consumers.

Market Trends

As a general rule you wouldn’t want to rush into a declining marketplace or when the “bubble”has burst so to speak.  Google Trends is a really simple and free web application that will allow you to search for keywords related to your chosen product to better understand the trend based on Google searches over time.

Is your product idea trending up, down or is it stagnant? Knowing where the market is going can help you make a more informed decision for your idea.

Social Chatter

Another  great place to begin is to see what is happening in the marketplace and what customers are saying about your product idea as well as their sentiment around it is Topsy. It is perfect for searching for information surrounding hashtags to learn more about what customers are talking about in relation to your product idea.

3. Keyword Analysis

Understanding your product’s trend and social chatter is great but it’s also important to know how many people are currently searching for your product idea each month. That’s where Google’s Keyword Planner Tool comes into play. The Keyword Planner Tool allows you to search for keywords and phrases related to your product and then displays the total number of searches each money for the chosen terms.

In addition, the Keyword Planner tool will also display the level of competition in paid search for each term. This can allow you to better understand how lucrative the keywords are, which can also be an indication of profitability of the product.

To use this tool you need to have a Google Adwords account which you can sign up to for free. Login to your account and select Tools from the top menu, then select Keyword Planner. On the next screen, click Search for new keyword and ad group ideas. Backlinks IO has a great page with step by step instructions and tips on using this great tool.

Now you should be have a clearer idea about whether your idea, app, product is the go and the potential or existing competitors and the marketplace for it. And with this information you should be in a great place to  promote your product, idea, app and achieve great success. 🙂

Probably the most out standing feature was the flexibility that the multistore option provides the store owner. In this instance they can target individual key marine and RV markets from the one admin area. Inventory control is controlled from the one admin area so no need for any external systems to sync and coordinate inventory number which means less work and headaches for the store owner.

The websites were developed by Shopping Cart Designs your eccommerce specialists and are already exceeding the expected return on investment.

If you’re really serious about starting an online business, you should base that business on your own personal skills or interests.

People who build their business around their own personal passions or experience almost always tend to achieve more success FASTER than people who don’t.

The cheapest product for you to supply online is your knowledge. Don’t sell your self short and say you have no knowledge.

Every single person has specialized knowledge or experience on something that could become the foundation of a successful online business.

However, if you find it difficult to pinpoint exactly what that specialized knowledge or experience is, don’t worry! You’re certainly not alone. Begin by making a list of all the jobs you’ve ever had, all the hobbies you’ve ever had, all the volunteer work you’ve ever done,all the times you’ve helped someone and felt really good about it, all the challenging situations you’ve experienced in life.

Then go through that list and use it to find where your areas of skills and interest lie.

Use the questions below to get you going.

• Do you have children? What do you find most the most rewarding about being a parent? What is the most challenging aspect of being a parent?
• What websites do you visit when you’re just “surfing around” online? What topics do these cover?
• Have you ever been recognized for a contribution of services or won an award or trophy ? What was it for?
• Do you have pets? What kinds?
• Have you ever volunteered anywhere? What did you learn through this experience?
• Do you play any sports?
• If you had a million dollars and a week’s worth of free time, what would you do? List the first activities that come to mind.
• Have you ever gone through a particularly challenging experience, and come out of it stronger than ever? What was that challenge, and what did you do to overcome it?
• What lifetime accomplishment are you most proud of? What did you learn from this experience?
• Do you have firsthand knowledge of any medical illnesses or issues? If so, which ones?
• Do you collect anything? what?
• What television shows do you enjoy?
• What kind of music do you listen to?
• Do you ever attend theater events or other events related to “the Arts”?
• Is there anything you’ve always really wanted to do or learn more about, but just haven’t had the time?

Once you have finished, go over your answers, pay special attention to the ones you are most passionate about. These are the areas that are most likely to lead you to the ideal market you should target with your business.

Now narrow your list down to five topics you’re truly passionate about. These topics are going to be the starting point of your research to find your niche market.

These topic’s could be the beginning of a very successful business selling e-books on your specialised topic and remember it should be specialised so that you can target your niche market.

• the types of products you will be selling eg are they going to be downloaded or do they need to be shipped
• How are you going to be be paid -how are you going to process payments recieved
• Will payments be recurrent such as monthly fees
• your target customers

Online shopping carts are peices of software that allow successful website that to provide a mechanism to sell something. However, if the program is insufficient then it may result in decrease in a website’s productivity. Customers want to deal with programs that are easy and time saving. This most certainly includes online shopping carts.

When a customer goes shopping they want to have a shopping cart that is easily accessible and allows a customer to view a product with the option to buy it should be right there. The ability to view what is in the shopping cart at any given time is always a plus with customers. A program that can give them an estimated total that includes shipping helps them gauge how much more to spend on a website is also a valuable feature.

Also the ability for the last minute marketing pitch where just before a customer is ready to check out be sure to advertise other products. The most effective way to do this is to say something to the effect of “other customers who purchased this product also purchased…” Having a list of other products by the customer’s newly chosen product may help them with that last minute impulse buy. Much like the last minute impulse buys at check out lines that include lollies or magazines.

To keep customers happy there should be a way that they can correct any mistakes that they had made in their online shopping cart. This can include adding an item, removing an item or changing their shipping option.

Not all items purchased go directly to the customer placing the order. Many times online shoppers prefer to do their last minute gift shopping online and may also find it easier to order a present for a loved family member via an online website. Having an option in the online shopping cart that allows for an order to be sent to another person with out the customer having to change their home address on the website. To even take it a step further some successful online shopping cart programs offer to keep a database of people a customer has shipped to in the past. This way when they need to ship to them again it is as easy as a click of the mouse.

You can find out more and contact shopping cart designs for a full featured ecommerce website here

With an SSL-secured site, your customers will have the confidence to purchase your goods and services. But enabling customers to pay you online takes more than just collecting their credit card numbers or other payment information. What will you do with customer payment information once it’s sent to you? How can you verify that customer’s credit card information is valid? How will you go about processing and managing those payments with a complex network of financial institutions?

You could simply set up a credit card terminal and process orders manually. But why invest the time and effort to build an e-commerce site without taking advantage of the efficiency of online payment processing? To offer a complete e-commerce experience, you need to implement an “Internet payment gateway” that provides Internet connectivity between buyers, sellers, and the financial networks that move money between them.

The Internet Payment Processing System
Participants in a typical online payment transaction include the:

Acquiring Bank: In the online payment processing world, an Acquiring Bank provides Internet Merchant Accounts. A merchant must open an Internet Merchant Account with an Acquiring Bank to enable online credit card authorization and payment processing. Examples of Acquiring Banks include Merchant eSolutions and most major banks.

Credit Card Association: A financial institution that provides credit card services that are branded and distributed by Customer Issuing Banks. Examples include Visa® and MasterCard®.

Customer Issuing Bank: A financial institution, such as a bank, that provides your customer with a payment instrument. The issuer is responsible for the cardholder’s debt payment.

Internet Merchant Account: A special account with an Acquiring Bank that allows the merchant to accept credit cards over the Internet. The merchant typically pays a processing fee for each transaction processed, also known as the discount rate. A merchant applies for an Internet Merchant Account in a process similar to applying for a commercial loan. The fees charged by the Acquiring Bank will vary.

Payment Gateway: A service that provides connectivity among merchants, customers, and financial networks to process authorizations and payments. The service is usually operated by a third-party provider such as VeriSign.

Processor: A large data center that processes credit card transactions and settles funds to merchants. The processor is connected to a merchant’s site on behalf of an Acquiring Bank via a Payment Gateway.

Payment Authorization and Settlement
Payment processing can be divided into to major phases or steps: authorization and settlement. During the authorization phase, verification is made that the credit card is active and the customer has sufficient credit available to make the purchase. The steps in the authorization process are:

1. Customer decides to make a purchase on the Merchant’s Web site, proceeds to check-out and inputs credit card information.
2. The Merchant’s Web site receives customer information and sends transaction information to the Payment Gateway.
3. The Payment Gateway routes information to the Processor.
4. The Processor sends information to the Issuing Bank of the Customer’s credit card.
5. The Issuing Bank sends transaction result (authorization or decline) to the Processor.
6. The Processor routes transaction result to the Payment Gateway.
7. The Payment Gateway passes result information to the Merchant.
8. The Merchant accepts or rejects transaction and ships goods if necessary. Because this is a “Card Not Present” transaction, the Merchant should take additional precautions to ensure that the card has not been stolen and that the customer is the actual owner of the card.

The second phase is the settlement process during which money is transferred from the customer’s account to the merchant’s account. During this process the following takes place:

1. Merchant requests the Payment Gateway to settle a transaction
2. The Payment Gateway sends all transactions to be settled to the Processor.
3. The Processor sends settlement payment details to Customer’s credit card Issuing Bank; at the same time the Processor sends payment details to Merchant’s Acquiring Bank.
4. The Issuing Bank includes the Merchant’s charge on the Customer’s credit card statement while the Acquiring Bank credit’s the Merchant’s account

What You Should Know About Fraud
Just because you have secured your site with an SSL certificate doesn’t mean that you don’t need to worry about your online business being affected by credit card fraud. Fraud can be a significant problem for customers, merchants, and credit card issuers and is something you should be aware of when you take your business online. In the offline world, liability for fraudulent transactions belongs to the credit card issuer but shifts to the merchant for “card not present” transactions, including transactions conducted online. This means that you will not receive payment for fraudulent transactions. Fortunately, there are things you can do to significantly limit your risk as an online merchant.

1. Choose a payment service provider that is well established, credible and has a strong track record for transaction security.
2. Use Address Verification Service (AVS) which matches the cardholder billing address on file with the billing address submitted to ensure that the card holder is the card owner.
3. Use Card Security Codes (known as CVV2 for Visa, CVVC for MasterCard and CID for American Express) as additional assurance that the actual card is in the possession of the person submitting the order. If you ask for this number on your online order form, even if you don’t use it for processing, it is a strong deterrent against fraud.
4. Keep an eye out for multiple orders for easily resold items purchased on the same credit card.
5. Develop your own negative card and shipping address list and crosscheck transactions against it.

Test, Test, Test

You may be eager to launch your e-commerce storefront, but take time to review and test your site thoroughly before going live. You will only have one chance to make a first impression on each new visiting customer, and broken links, incorrect phone numbers, and grammatical or spelling errors diminish the professional polish you’re striving for.

Have objective testers walk through the entire ordering process to test its usability. Is it clear exactly what customers need to do to purchase? Test buying a product: is the page on which you supply payment information secure? Is the payment processed correctly through your payment gateway? Make sure you use both Macintosh and PCs for testing, and different browsers and modem speeds.

Also, never neglect good customer support: it’s the key to creating loyal customers. Are you prepared to confirm that a customer’s order has been received? Are you ready to follow up with an e-mail message for good measure? A personalized message from a real customer service representative is best, but sending an automatic reply works as well. Set minimum response times and standards for replying to customer questions and concerns, and ensure that your customer support staff is fully knowledgeable about all your products and services, their features and benefits, pricing, and availability.

With an online identity, a Web host, an eye-catching, professional-looking Web storefront, rock-solid security, easy-to-use payment management, and the right promotions, your e-commerce business is ready to succeed in the competitive world of the Web.

With your Internet identity established and your site built, it’s time to turn your online storefront into a thriving e-commerce business. To do that, you must win your customers’ trust. Eighty-five percent of Web users surveyed reported that a lack of security made them uncomfortable sending credit card numbers over the Internet. Merchants who can prove the security of their Web site and win the confidence of these customers will gain their business and loyalty-and an enormous opportunity for grabbing market share and expanding sales.

The Risks of E-Commerce
In traditional retail business, consumers accept the risks of using credit cards in “brick and mortar” stores because they can see and touch the merchandise and make judgments about the store. On the Internet, without those physical cues, it is more difficult for customers to assess the safety of your business. Also, serious security threats have emerged:

Spoofing-The low cost of Web site creation and the ease of copying existing pages makes it all too easy to create illegitimate sites that appear to be operated by established organizations. In fact, con artists have illegally obtained credit card numbers by setting up professional-looking Web sites that mimic legitimate businesses.

Unauthorized disclosure-When transaction information is transmitted “in the clear,” without proper security and encryption, hackers can intercept the transmissions to obtain customers’ sensitive information-like personal information and/or credit card numbers.

Unauthorized action-A competitor or disgruntled customer can alter a Web site so that it malfunctions or refuses service to potential clients.

Data alteration-The content of a transaction can be not only intercepted, but also altered en route, either maliciously or accidentally. User names, credit card numbers, and dollar amounts sent without proper security and encryption are all vulnerable to such alteration. The Trust Solution: Authenticated SSL Certificates
In the age of e-business, authenticated Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) digital certificates provide crucial online identity and security to help establish trust between parties involved in online transactions over digital networks. Customers must be assured that the Web site they are communicating with is genuine and that the information they send via Web browsers stays private and confidential.

There are three key elements to inspiring the confidence of your customers and ensuring a truly secure online transaction:

Encryption – businesses that are serious about e-commerce must implement a complete e-commerce trust infrastructure based on encryption technology. Encryption, the process of transforming information to make it unintelligible to all but the intended recipient, forms the basis of data integrity and privacy necessary for e-commerce.

Authentication – although some Certificate Authorities (CAs, or the “signers” of digital certificates), believe that encryption is enough, it is imperative that your Web site is also authenticated. This will improve your visitor’s trust in you and your site. Authentication means that a trusted authority can prove that you are who you say you are. To prove that your business is authentic, your Web site needs to be secured by the best-of-breed encryption technology and authentication practices.

Digital Certificates – a digital certificate is an electronic file the uniquely identifies individuals and Web sites on the Internet and enables secure, confidential communications. They serve as sort of a digital passport or credential. The practice of providing unauthenticated SSL certificates exposes online users to the risks of false online storefronts operating on the Internet.

Fully authenticated SSL certificates enable a visitor to your Web site to:

• Securely communicate with you such that information they provide cannot be intercepted in transit (confidentiality) or altered without detection (integrity)
• Verify that they are actually doing business with you and not an imposter’s site (authentication)

How Authenticated SSL Certificates Work
An authenticated SSL certificate allows the receiver of a digital message to be confident of both the identity of the sender and the integrity of the message. Fundamental to the process of issuing high-assurance SSL certificates to an organization for use on its Web site are three basic, and very important, authentication and verification steps:

• Confirmation that the organization named in the certificate has the right to use the domain name included in the certificate
• Confirmation that the organization named in the certificate is a legal entity
• Confirmation that the individual who requested the SSL certificate on behalf of the organization was authorized to do so

When Web visitors connect to Web sites, they reach one of two kinds of servers. If they reach servers that are secure, they will get messages indicating that fact (a closed padlock icon and “https” in the URL). Similarly, if they reach servers that are not secure, there will be warnings to that effect. A truly secure Web server is one that has an authenticated SSL certificate. The authenticated certificate tells users that an independent, trustworthy third party has verified that the server belongs to the company it claims to belong to. A valid authenticated certificate means that users can have confidence that they are sending confidential information to the place to which they think they are sending it.

A Webmaster generates a certificate request, which in turn creates two encrypted keys: one private, one public. The Webmaster sends the public one off to a Certificate Authority (CA), such as VeriSign. CAs should then make certain that they are issuing certificates to the “correct” company. CAs must ensure:

• That the company they are certifying is the registrant of the Internet domain name they have certified
• That it is registered as a company in one or more countries
• That its registered name is the same as that on the certificate the CA is signing
• That the person requesting the certificate is an employee of that company

Once the verification and background check has been done, the CA signs off on the public key. The public key comes back to the Webmaster, who loads it into the server. As soon as both the private and public keys, a matching pair, align perfectly, the SSL will start functioning. SSL ensures that the information sent by a server is identical to the information received by a Web visitor and that no modifications have taken place.

1. Establish your identity. The right domain name, or URL, can make the difference between a memorable e-commerce identity and getting lost in the online crowd.
2. Find the right online home. For brick-and-mortar stores, location is everything. Your Web business needs the right home, too. Find a home for your site with a reputable Web host.
3. Build an attractive storefront. With the right tools, creating a Web site is easier than ever-but following some basic guidelines will help make your site easy and acccessible for customers to navigate.
4. Let customers know they can trust you. In the anonymous world of the Internet, customers will provide you with private information, like credit card or phone numbers, only if they’re sure your site is legitimate and the information they send you is protected. Make sure your site is secure-and that your customers know it through the purchase of an SSL certificate.
5. Make it easy for customers to pay you. You can set up your site so customers can pay by keying in a credit card number. But how will you process that transaction? Make sure you not only offer customers a variety of convenient payment methods, but that you can process them all reliably.
6. Let the world know about your site. A memorable domain name, a great looking design, and top-notch products and services can make your site successful only if customers know about it. Promote your site to drive traffic to it.

Clearly, building the elements of e-commerce into your business is a big job, but it is too important to ignore if you want your business to grow and thrive.

Building a User-Friendly Store front

With a domain name in place, you’re ready to start building your e-commerce storefront. But before you begin, take some time to plan.

Plan Your Site Carefully
First, identify clear marketing goals for your site, such as generating leads, building a database of potential customers’ names and e-mail addresses, or putting a product catalog online to save the time and expense of printing and mailing. Quantify your objectives- such as increasing sales by 15 percent-so you know whether or not your site is successful.

Quantify your goals for sales, clicks, or inquiries so you can objectively measure the success of your e-commerce Web site.

Then, figure out what your potential customers need to know before buying your products and services. This might include:

1. An overview of your company, its products and services, and their applications
2. Complete product or service descriptions, including features, key benefits, pricing, product specifications, and other information, for each product or service
3. Testimonials, or success stories so customers can see how similar individuals or organizations have worked with you
4. An FAQ section that anticipates and answers customers’ common issues

Plan the structure of your site, focusing on making it easy for customers to learn what they need to know, make a purchase decision, and then buy quickly. Create a site map that outlines every page on your site starting with the home page and mapping how customers get from one page to the next. Use tools that quantitatively measure site activity-where customers are clicking, how often, and whether they end up purchasing-then compare the results with your goals.

Research shopping cart software-

These days is it alot more cost effective to purchase or use free prebuilt shopping cart software rather than have one custom written for you.

More than likely you will still have to pay to have it setup and congfigure but the overall cost will still be less than if a web developer had written it fromn scratch specifically for you.

Although there are sitiuation when an existing shopping cart package will not furfil your specific requirements and you will need to have a custom solution written for you.

Some tips on shopping carts here

E-Commerce Site Design Tips
Following these basic guidelines will help make your site not only attractive, but also easy for customers to use-and that means easy to buy from you.

1. Carefully research your own favorite e-commerce sites. Creatively adapt the most compelling marketing and design techniques to enhance your site’s effectiveness.

2. Your home page is your site’s-and your business’s-online front door. It’s essential that it make a good first impression on visitors. Make sure it clearly presents the following basic elements that customers are always likely to look for:

1. Your company name, logo, and tagline prominently displayed. Take full advantage of the opportunity to showcase your brand identity.
2. Contact information. Don’t make it difficult for visitors to find your phone number, e-mail address, mailing address, and fax number.
3. A link to an “About the Company” page for customers to quickly learn who you are and what your business offers.
4. A site menu listing the basic subsections of your site. Keep this menu in the same place on every page throughout your site to make it easy to navigate.
5. A “What’s New” section for news, announcements, and product promotions. Frequently updating this area will encourage customers to return often.
6. Your privacy statement, clearly describing your business’s policy for protecting customer’s personal information.

3. Make it easy for customers to navigate your site. As you build your site, try to minimize the number of clicks it takes the customer to go from your home page to actually being able to complete a purchase. Four to six clicks is a useful rule of thumb. Make sure links make sense, so customers know what to click to find what they’re looking for. Don’t make your navigation buttons or links too dominant an element in your site design: instead, focus on product information.

4. Keep things simple. Don’t fill up your site with graphics, animations, and other visual bells and whistles. Stick to the same basic color palette and fonts your company uses in other communications, like your logo, brochures, and signage. Ensure that images and graphics serve to enhance, not distract from, your marketing goals. Make sure the text is easy to read-black letters on a white ground may not be terribly original, but they are easier on the eyes than orange type on a purple background.

5. Keep download times short. Test pages to make sure they’re not too heavy with graphics that will slow load times-and minimize the size of your images when possible. Zona Research estimates that most Web pages take anywhere from three to eleven seconds to load, depending on the user’s modem and Internet connection (remember: many e-commerce customers shop from home using slower connections). Most users click away to another site or log off if a page takes more than eight seconds to load, costing e-commerce businesses billions in lost potential revenue.