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The Top 5 Errors Made by Money-Losing Ecommerce Sites

Setting up an ecommerce site is easy. There are ecommerce solutions that can create a snazzy store for you in minutes. However, running an ecommerce business is a totally different ball game. Attracting traffic and generating revenue in the face of fierce competition is hard but businesses that avoid these basic missteps can gain traction and make excellent profits. 1. Making things difficult for the customer. This includes almost everything that you can do to turn customers away. It begins with a site design that is not intuitive and results in tedious navigation. In today’s market, this includes not having a mobile optimized website[1]. Not enough payment options and a cumbersome purchase process result in customers leaving empty-handed even though they were on the cusp of completing a purchase. Add low-quality images and poor product descriptions to the mix and you have put together a potent combination that will definitely prevent your ecommerce business from taking off. Related: How to Fix 3 Common Online Marketing Mistakes[2] 2. Not targeting customers. Customer acquisition is one of the biggest costs that ecommerce sites incur. Businesses without a system for targeting specific customer personas, as well as marketing to existing customers, spend excessively targeting the wrong audience. Even though first-time visitors drive 73 percent of online conversions, these are less profitable because of the higher cost of customer acquisition. To effectively target customers, capture your customer’s information. Then you can market at a lower cost in a more personalized manner. 3. Low profit margins. Rookie ecommerce sites do business at a loss until they achieve economies of scale. If and when they do make money, inventory, payment gateway fees, shipping, advertising, staff and technology nibble away at profit margins. Incentives are a great way to build a customer base but only when the…
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Transparency in Business

Transparency in Business
One thing that has always bothered me is the Sunday the pastor decides to talk about finances. Rather than give a homily about the gospel or explain how we can live by the Bible’s standards in today’s world, he talks about money. Specifically how much he expects us to cough up for the diocese. The pastor starts with a joke that isn’t funny and proceeds to tell us all about what the diocese has determined is our “fair share” to donate during this year’s appeal. It used to be the Thanksgiving Appeal and then the Mission Appeal. I don’t know what it is now, probably because I’ve tuned out once the “fair share” has been revealed. The thing is, we (the church community) have pledged tons of money for improvements on and building additions to our church. Our “fair share” has been given repeatedly. But my biggest beef is that we receive weekly updates on how much we “owe” and that we need to keep giving in addition to regular church gifts and special collections BUT we never get any updates on where the money goes. How much there actually is and what it is used for is a mystery. Recently, the pastor retired and a new one was assigned. He inserts statements that outline all of the church’s income and expenses. Finally. Transparency. In business, it is incredibly valuable to have a transparent organization. Let’s talk about management transparency. Employees want to know what management is doing. They want to know that management understands what they are asking of their workers and that they have experience and the ability to advise them accordingly. This kind of transparency leads to significant increases in employee job satisfaction and the ability of the company to attract top talent. Management transparency has been…
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Teaching Our Children the Value of Hard Work

Teaching Our Children the Value of Hard Work
The Millennial Generation is the generation of children born of Baby Boomers, brought up with overwhelming mass media and technology. They also have not, through our mistakes as their parents, learned the value of hard work. If you have a millennial child, you probably set out with the best of intentions. You bought them the latest toys, made sure they had all of the things that you didn’t have as a child. You wanted them to be happy. If they participated in a sport or activity, sometimes the teams didn’t keep score. Sometimes nobody was “out”. Everybody had a chance to participate and every single kid got a trophy when they were finished. There were no losers. I’m not sure why we went along with this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. As our kids get older, the effects don’t seem quite as appealing. They have a sense of entitlement and don’t want to take on responsibility. They don’t realize that they can fail. They are materialistic, yet unrealistic about the behaviors needed in the workplace to earn the money to make the purchases. These children get to college and simply expect to have the diploma handed to them. Working for the grades is optional. It is more important to focus on themselves and what they want than on anything else. They have been referred to as “Generation Me”. My children are of this generation. Now, as they are in high school and college, I am seeing some of these characteristics. However, we tried to balance the “everybody wins” with “hard work equals success”. In some things it worked; in other ways it did not. My oldest has learned that he has to work for good grades and that good grades will equal a better job.…
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Arizona’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act: Truly Christian?

Arizona’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act: Truly Christian?
Arizona lawmakers took a drastic step on February 20, 2014, when they sent The Religious Freedom Restoration Act to Governor Jan Brewer (R) for her approval and signature into law. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was originally a federal act of Congress to protect freedom of religion. Currently, Arizona is seeking to build upon the Act to interpret it in a way it was not originally intended: potentially to allow businesses to refuse to serve members of the gay community. This was prompted by two major events. Obama’s birth control mandate, in which employers must offer birth control methods within their health plans was the first event. The second was a case in New Mexico in which a photographer refused to work a gay wedding due to her religious beliefs. Because the original RFRA was understood to only apply to cases in which the government is one party in a lawsuit, Arizona has chosen to add some specifics to their State version of the law. Arizona’s main new provisions to the RFRA would include coverage of “any individual, association, partnership, corporation, church, religious assembly, or institution or other business organization.” It also states that a violation of religious freedom can be declared “regardless of whether the government is a party to the proceeding.” The last major change proclaims that a violation of religious freedom must be confirmed by three points: “That the person's action or refusal to act is motivated by a religious belief; that the person's religious belief is sincerely held; that the state action substantially burdens the exercise of the person's religious beliefs." The first two provisions appear to be protection of rights of religious freedom from a broad perspective. The third demands “proof” of true violation of a violation of a religious belief. Now this is where…
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Holiday Giving Back

Holiday Giving Back
The holiday season is here and as much as we try to associate it with family and celebration, it often becomes all about the gifts. Gift-giving is expected, but why not give it a little twist? Why not give gifts from companies that give? We’ve talked about TOMS on this site, but since then they have expanded and added a Marketplace to their website. The Marketplace is a platform for entrepreneurs to sell their products as well as make donations to different social causes. As an example, a Love Bracelet with a gorgeous bronze pendant with the Ethiopian word for “love” on it is only $30, yet provides a 6 month salary for a teacher in Ethiopia. Jewelry, accessories, bags, apparel, tech, and more are searchable by gift, cause, region, or brand. This is a great way to give two gifts in one. You can even find gifts for kids that keep on giving. The One World Futbol Project offers a nearly indestructible ball that never needs to be pumped up, yet never goes flat. For each ball purchased, one is donated to organizations working with disadvantaged children. The cost? Only $40 and you have given a child a gift and a lesson in the power of giving. For just about the same price as a Brita water filtering pitcher, you could purchase a more attractive SOMA glass carafe for filtering water. All purchases benefit Charity: Water to provide clean, safe drinking water to those in areas of need. The filters are compostable, made from coconut shells and silk, so you aren’t adding to landfills. Filters arrive via subscription with free shipping for life. Every guy needs a rugged flashlight for emergency situations. Why not try the BOGOLIGHT? The solar powered flashlight provides 5 hours of light after each charge…
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Stop and Frisk: Controversy on Patrol

Stop and Frisk: Controversy on Patrol
New York City, in an attempt to decrease crime, had adopted a "stop and frisk" policy in 2003, providing police the legal ability to stop and search anyone whom they had a reasonable suspicion was involved in illegal activities. The primary reason for designing the program was to locate weapons. This seemed like a good idea at its inception, giving police more latitude in their ability to stop suspicious suspects and detect potential crimes early. Mayor Bloomberg was in support of the policy, attempting to decrease the crime rate in NYC. But “stop and frisk” gave police officers the option to employ the practice to anyone they viewed with “reasonable suspicion”. This phrase was undefined and as such, used with great latitude by police. Unfortunately, "stop and frisk" has turned into "controversy and politics". NYC police have been accused of using the policy in a racist manner. 87% of the 4.4 million people stopped under the rule were black or hispanic. Police did not cite the specific reason for detaining these people as due to race, but rather reasons such as "furtive movements". Of those people detained, 90% were not charged with any crime. Also, in more than 98% of the 2.3 million frisks, no weapons were found. Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled last week that the "stop and frisk" policy was indirectly targeting young black and hispanic residents of the city and humiliating and demeaning them with body searches. Often, a bulge seen in a pocket, used as “reasonable suspicion” was merely a cell phone or wallet. She stated that it was a violation of the constitution. She has ruled that the policy be halted effective immediately. The ruling that the procedure was unconstitutional and musts be discontinued was promptly appealed by Mayor Bloomberg. The next question is: What will…
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