Small Business Blog
Earth Skater's take on the trends in e-commerce
Secrets to Launching a Successful Online Store

Promote before Launching
You will require a solid social media presence to achieve this task or really good quality and persuasive content. All new store owners’ start marketing their stores after they have set it up, which we realize is very easy to do. But you have to hold off the launch until you have started marketing your soon-to-launch online store. This practice will help you secure a loyal audience, even before your store goes live. Use creative marketing techniques, like offering discounts for signing up, and you will have a list of potential customer in your hand when your store is launched.Listen to the People
When you start the promotion of your store before it is launched, it will give you an opportunity to test the market without any of the risk involved. Give people a sneak peek into your products and gauge the response and it will help you create a better online store. Afterwards, you can visit our site and start the process of creating a store. We provide online store hosting as well as custom web design services.The Competition
Learn everything there is to know about your competitors, barring corporate espionage. Observe how their online store works, the offers, the deals, the mechanisms and the processes; this will give you the information you require to deliver the right experience to your customers and be different from the competitors.Launch Day Deals
The pre-promotions we mentioned above can also play another part in the success of your store; you can include launch day deals and offers in the promotional material that you produce for your new online store. This will ensure that people visit your site on launch day to make purchases so you can start your business on a high note.Continued Success
If you want to keep the initial momentum, you will require some excellent marketing techniques, which we can help you with. And you will also require a special dedication to your customer service so the customers keep returning. Remember the secrets and get ready to launch a successful online store. If you require information about the services we offer, explore our site or call us 1-877-627-2492 and a representative will help you with any questions.Leave your Competition in the Dust
So, what do you think will be your biggest challenge when you launch your online store? If you think is setting up and promoting you web store, then you are wrong because we already have you covered on both of these aspects. We provide the best online store hosting service, web design service, and both content marketing and PayPerClick advertising services that will help you easily launch and promote your online store.
If you answered your competitors, then you are absolutely right. Other web stores in niche marketing will be your biggest challenge, because your store will be competing with them for the attention of potential customers. With the help of the right marketing campaign, which we can develop for your online store, and the following tips, you will leave your competition in the dust:
Develop your USP
Your USP (unique selling proposition) will give your customers a reason to purchase products from you rather than your competitors. You have to search for a USP that will allow you to stand apart from other online stores in your niche. It could be anything, the way the products are manufactured or delivered, a personal story, etc.Establish Product Quality
Online buyers are looking for a bargain, yes, but they also want quality, and that is how you can distinguish your store from others. Offer a personal warranty period, expert opinion, or an endorsement so people are assured about the quality of the product you are selling.Quirky Branding
This can be extremely risky, but if your products are fun and unique, you can brand them a bit differently. You can use sarcasm or satirical content to brand the product and turn it into a selling point.Customer Experience
If you are unable to perform any of the tasks mentioned above, then customize the shopping experience that customers can have on your site. From a creative thank you message to the box your product is shipped in, you can create a myriad of ways that will help you create a unique identity for your online store. As you have probably gleaned from the information above, the key is to be yourself, unique and somehow different from everyone else. And with our custom web design service, you put your best foot forward and begin your journey of creating a unique and successful online store.Ways to Promote your Online Store and Increase your Revenue
As we have discussed previously, setting up an online store is relatively simple, with a little help from Earth Skater, of course. But, promoting your online store is a long process and can be extremely difficult, if you don’t have the right people working on it. We offer our clients promotional and marketing services for their online stores, so they can start turning over a profit, as soon as possible.
Promotion of your online venture depends on generating the maximum amounts of traffic for your store and many different ways are used to achieve that result. Following are some of the common methods that are utilized for effective promotion of online stores:
1. Article Marketing
Article marketing is all about spreading the word about your store, and the products you are selling, on the World Wide Web. Articles are written on different topics that relate to your e-commerce store, to promote it, and then they are posted on different article publishing sites. These articles help you create a more ‘visible’ online presence for your store and can help generate valuable traffic.2. Social Marketing
Social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc, make for the best virtual locations to promote your business. With timely posts and the right promotional material, you can have thousands of people following your pages and sharing your posts.3. Email Marketing
Create a newsletter signup form on your website, this will allow you to gather valuable email addresses that you can use to send promotional material and exclusive offers to clients. Be careful to walk the fine line between spamming someone’s inbox and sending useful promotional materials to them.4. Online Ads
By paying a nominal fee, you can get Google Adwords to place your online store’s advertisements on many different websites. This can be instrumental in attracting potential customers to your online store.5. Blogging
Unique content on your blog and the right link building techniques can be helpful in promoting your online store on Google and other popular search engines value sites, which are being updated with unique content on a daily basis. All the promotional techniques can help you successfully promote your business online and they can also help raise your profits. But, managing all of them at the same time can be difficult for the site owner, because you also have to worry about the business side of the store. This is why you should leave the promotion of the website to the pros. We offer a complete advertising and marketing package to our clients, on top of our excellent online store hosting and designing services. Contact us (877-627-2492) to learn about ways in which our team can help you promote your business and increase your revenues.Increase Online Store Sales Using an Affiliate Tracking Program

Commission Based
After joining an affiliate program, you can essentially become a vendor of your own products. You no longer have to ‘sell’ your products yourself; the affiliate program allows other site owners to sell the products for you. You will of course need to negotiate the terms of their commission. After agreeing on a number for the commission, your products will be sold by the many different site owners involved in the affiliate program. This will cause a definite increase in the sales of your online store, without any actual sales on the store itself.Advertisements
Another way to get some cash rolling into your online store is by placing advertisements of affiliates on your online store or have your store’s ads placed on their sites. After a customer clicks on the banners and makes a purchase from the corresponding store, the site hosting the ads will get a small percentage of the sale. Our affiliate tracking programs also allows you to easily keep track of all the clicks and sales made, via the program.The Right Niche
One thing that you have to be certain about, when you are advertising products on your online store is that the products should complement your online store. This right affiliate program will allow you to find the products that belong to your niche market, or at least suit your online store in some way. You will have to spend some time researching the vendors and the products they sell, to find the product which is right for your store. For example, if you are selling smoothie machines, then advertising fresh fruits would be ideal for your online store. Once you have, you can enjoy the extra influx of cash and increased revenues; all thanks to the affiliate tracking program. Call our sales team today (877627-2492) to learn about the ways our affiliate tracking program can help you increase your profits and you ROI.The Features an Online Store Builder can offer you
Once you decide to start an online store and research the “how to’s” of the process, you are bound to come across many different online store builders. These sites offer online store hosting, design and a myriad of other features to clients. Our site, Earth Skater, is among the very best of such sites and offers a long list of features to clients. In this post, we will discuss some of the highlights from that list of features.
Starting with the Domain
Every online store is born when the right, creative and catchy domain name is found and registered. Our site has a nifty little feature, which allows clients to search for and register the domain name they think would be perfect for their e-commerce store.Web Design
After you have selected the domain name and the right monthly payment plan, you can get introduced to our custom web design feature. We offer completely unique designs for your online store; you can select the one that complements your overall idea for your online store.Payment and Shipping
Two things that concern online store owners the most. We offer multiple payment options and an easy checkout process for your customers. As far as shipping is concerned, sites hosted on Earth Skater support UPS/USPS/FEDEX and international shipping. So, you will no face worries if you want to expand your business to international markets.Marketing
Our most valuable services and also the most important, once your store has been launched, are the marketing, advertising and SEO services. We can help you optimize your site, so you receive the benefit of its presence on all the popular search engines.Mobile Compatibility
Responsive designs are crucial in the success of any online store. Our web designs are handheld device friendly, and automatically resize to accommodate any screen size. So, you store can be more accessible for your customers.Simple and Easy
The best feature we offer is the simple usability of the site. You can perform all the necessary day to day tasks, without acquiring any special knowledge about web development or management. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the value that our site can offer you. So, what are you waiting for? Iron out your business plans and give our sales people a call (877627-2492) and they can guide you towards setting up and launching your online store.How an Affiliate Tracking Program Benefits your Online Store
At Earth Skater, we pride ourselves on having one of the best affiliate tracking programs in the industry; a sentiment that is regularly expressed to us by our customers about our affiliate tracking program. The affiliate program concept is gaining popularity because of the value it brings website owners.
Here are the benefits of using an affiliate tracking program on your website / online store.
Promotional Value
An affiliate program brings exceptional promotional value for your store; in fact an affiliate program can successfully help you maximize your business and bring more traffic to your site. Each affiliate will refer traffic to your website and help to brand your business. This cycle will repeat and grow over time.Report and Monitor
With the aid of an affiliate program, you can keep an eye on which affiliates are sending you traffic and sales. You can keep track of the numbers and work with affiliates to improve your affiliate conversions.Easy Management
The best thing about using an affiliate program is that it requires very little effort to use. The program tracks all statistics and sales, and you simply pay commissions to affiliates as needed.Traffic Improvements
The major function of an affiliate program is to maximize your online store exposure. Affiliates will employ different techniques like posting your link on their website, in their social media, and newsletters to ensure that your site receives more traffic, which will have a direct impact on sales.Valuable Data
An important thing to remember about affiliate programs is that, you have to find the right program from the right provider, to achieve all the benefits that are mentioned above. Our affiliate tracking program has been praised by clients over and over again, for the convenience and value it offers to them. If you have any questions regarding the program, then give us a call (877) 627-2492 and we will be happy to answer your questions.5 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Online Store
Odds are that you are worried about your technical prowess when you think about setting up your online store. You are probably worried about drowning in technical jargon and ‘how to articles’ after you start the process of setting up your e-commerce store. But the truth is that this should be the least of your worries.
By selecting the right hosting site for your online store, such as Earth Skater, you can forget all your worries about the technical side of setting up your store. We can help you setup, design and launch your store in a few days, if you want. But, there are some things that you should be concerned with while you are launching your store, like the following mistakes which are commonly overlooked by online store owners:
1. Forgetting the Competition
This mistake can be viewed in two different angles; first – store owners do not observe and analyze their main competition before starting their own online store. Second – selecting a niche that is way too competitive for a new online store. You will have a hard time achieving success with an online store that sells say t-shirts, because there are literally thousands of stores selling the exact same thing.2. Bad Vendors
Unreliable vendors are the reason why many online stores never get on the map when they are launched. Did you know the number one category for fraud noted by Better Business Bureau is Internet Marketing and SEO… the Internet is full of fraudsters and scammers, so you have to very careful in selecting the right providers, suppliers, and vendors for your business.3. No Promotional Plan
Starting an online store without a promotional or marketing plan would be like a non-swimmer jumping into the ocean without a life jacket. Unlike a physical store, customers won’t just stroll into your store off the street. You will have to have a plan to get the right traffic to your store. This means a marketing plan, an on-going way to build your brand and awareness of your company, and advertising plan, a way to get direct targeted traffic.4. Forgetting about Search Engines
When your store is launched, you will likely get the majority of your traffic from search engines. Not optimizing your site for all the popular search engines is one of the biggest mistakes an online store owner can make. Optimizing your site for search engines is part of your marketing plans. Landing pages are the page that visitors arrive on your website to, they must be optimized to make the sale and remove any distractions.5. Not being Convincing
If you want to achieve success with your online store, then you need to prove to every visitor that your site is the best place to shop for the products that your store offers. The right deals, pricing, special offers, guarantees, etc, can help convince the potential customers that they should make purchases from your store. Avoiding the aforementioned 5 mistakes should allow you to launch your online store without a hitch. Select the right payment plan and get in touch (877-627-2492) with our sales team today, and launch your online store without having any worries. for more detail visit : http://www.earthskater.com/DO’S & DON’TS of An E-Commerce Website
