In managing your ecommerce website, browser testing is a must. The appearance of your site may differ on different browsers and screen resolutions. For example, your website might look beautiful in Internet Explorer 7, but what does it look like in Safari on the Mac? What about Firefox, or in 1024 x 768 resolution? If you haven’t tested your site in the variety of popular configurations, then there is a good chance you are turning away customers.

Merchants should have a plan developed for ongoing browser test.

The following list could be followed:

1. Develop a schedule for your browser testing. You could test your site three to six months, or when there is a new released browser. Since browsers are updated so frequently, it is best practice to schedule some time to review browser usage trends every three to six months. Set a recurring calendar appointment and allow 30-60 minutes to perform the test.
2. Decide what to test. Choose what browsers, operating systems, monitor resolutions, and devices you will be testing your site in. This would include Windows and Mac operating systems; Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and other browsers; and various monitor resolutions. Make sure to include browser versions, such as IE 7 and 8. Base your testing decisions on your analytics and demographic data.
3. Choose which pages to test. Decide what pages in your website will you be running a test, such as home page, product pages, etc.
4. Choose your testing platform. You may use BrowserCam.com, BrowserShots.org, and Litmus.
5. Review results, fix, and retest.

Make it a point to test your website every few months to ensure browser and operating system compatibility. When you are able to test your pages this way, you can at least reduce the number of problems your pages have with the different browsers. Sixty minutes of your time could save your thousands of dollars of lost sales due to the site not working properly on your customer’s computer.

An abrupt stop in your online sales can be very alarming. Hopefully you haven’t experienced this scenario. But if you have, you know that feeling when your orders stops arriving in your inbox. What to do? Have a test with your website and see to it that you’ll run around through these areas that you need to check.

Check your site code. Even a small error in your coding could make your site useless. If your drop in order volume is your concern, run a test order on your site. Go through the entire checkout process, including entering valid credit card information, to be sure you haven’t missed an important detail. Test your site on a regular basis. Roll out site changes with care or utilize a test site for major changes to your site.

Check related services, it may have expired or changed. It is possible that you have failed to renew an integrated service that is part of your site and shoppers are unable to proceed with their purchases. Some of the leading culprits are your site security certificate, your credit card gateway, or perhaps a JavaScript-based service like a gift registry. If any of these services go down, your shopping system could fail along with them. Once you find the problem, immediately renew or reactivate the broken service.

Check for viruses. Often sites that have been compromised by the installation of malicious scripts have been reported. When Google detects a virus intrusion, it will post a message by your organic search listings, informing the world that the use of your site could harm a visitor’s computer. Sign up for a Google Webmaster Tools account and follow the suggestions that Google has provided for removing the infection and making your site secure. Once you have followed the corrective steps and notified Google, it will review your site and determine whether to place it back among the search-engine listings.

Check your website’s traffic, it may have dramatically slowed down. If nothing has changed with your on-site factors, you want to watch your search traffic closely. In order to function as an ecommerce business owner, you need to utilize a web analytics package such as Google Analytics. If you have a serious traffic dip, determine the leakage and work with the source to get your site back on track.

Have you redesign your site? It may have affected you site’s traffic and conversion. Your site’s design may look cool, sexy and awesome, but it can have negative effects on your site traffic. If you cannot immediately identify the issue with your new site design, enlist the help of an expert to assess it and offer suggestions. As with several of the other issues, Google Webmaster Tools is your friend. The diagnostic tools will tell you if you have blatant issues with your site and page structure, as Google sees it.

If find your ecommerce business in trouble, site testing and statistics review should give you the insights you need to rebuild sales.

Most merchants are always on the look for a new and worthy shopping cart software to meet their customers’ needs. OpenCart is getting more popular and has become the light at the end of the tunnel for most webpreneurs. However, we might ask what exactly is OpenCart and how will it help your online business?

OpenCart is an open source PHP-based online shopping cart system. This robust e-commerce solution makes it easy for webpreneurs to create their own online businesses and participate in e-commerce at a low cost. It is designed feature rich, easy to use, search engine friendly and with a visually appealing interface. Your website would work just like the ones that are created for big companies. With a completely interactive website of your own, you go head-to-head with the competition. OpenCart is feature rich and simple to use so you can get started right away for a minimal cost.

OpenCart comes with a vast set of features out of the box that are perfect for a small to medium sized business. These features include: , Unlimited Categories, Unlimited Products, Unlimited Manufacturers, Open Source, Documentation, Templatable, Multi-Language, Multi-Currency, Product Reviews, Product Ratings, Downloadable Products, Automatic Image Resizing, Multiple Tax Rates, Related Products, Unlimited Information Pages, Shipping Weight Calculation, Discount Coupon System, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Module System, Backup & Restore Tools, Printable Invoices, Sales Reports.

Opencarts accepts multiple payment gateways. It is easier for customers to pay and simpler for you to collect. These payment gateways includes: OpenCart accepts multiple payment gateways including 2Checkout, LiqPay, AsiaPay, Authorise Net, Moneybookers, Mal’s E-Commerce, CCAvenue, PayJunction, Cash On Delivery (COD), PSIGate, BluePay, NOCHEX, SagePay, HSBC WorldPay, CCNow, PayMate, ChronoPay Cheques, Money Order, PayPal, PayPoint, eWay, eGold, Verisign and LinkPoint.

You will have no problem in dealing International customers. OpenCart also supports an array of available languages. Languages supported by OpenCart include English (default), French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Hungarian, Indonesian, Farsi, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish and Polish.

The cart is a lot easier to program with, and in effect will be easier to make changes to and provide extra functionality required by clients. Open Cart is perfect for small to medium sized online retailers like myself, it’s robust, flexible, well designed and best of all it’s free. Opencart is a very useful tool in your quest to make money online.

Many refer social media as another tool to pump their marketing messages into especially companies which have found that success in traditional marketing outlets like PPC, SEO, email marketing, TV, radio, or print have slowed down. And so comes SMO or Social Media Optimization. SMO is a way of enforcing changes to optimize a site through Social Media or online communities. Furthermore, it is the next level in viral marketing where word of mouth is produced and passed through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites like, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Reditt, Flicker etc., The method of SMO includes adding up RSS feeds, social bookmarking buttons, blogging, and anything that can allow you to communicate. Examples of these are adding photos, videos and blogs. The main focus of Social Media Optimization is to boost or motivate traffic to your site from other sources other than search engines.

Breaking down the site walls so content can be easily found is what Social Media Optimization is all about. Content that are circulated and shared by the community could easily be accessed. Without depending strictly on search engines, we are still able to get our site or content visible. Social Media Optimization allows you to effectively circulate information and generates an intense amount of interest for a relatively unknown product or service . It also positions the brand to the customers in their own terms and environment that yields to a more genuine marketing message.

However, implementing social media marketing tactics for any reason without a solid strategy in place will ultimately lead to confusion and disappointment in your efforts in the social media space. It is similar to throwing darts blind folded. You are throwing the darts without even knowing what or where the bull’s-eye is. Once in a while you might hit the dartboard, and it would be a miracle if you hit the bull’s-eye.

The success of an ecommerce website depends on how effectively it can engage the interest of customers and convert that interest into a sale. Live chat not only provides an additional channel of contact for potential buyers, but also addresses other important needs as well. Buyers understand and feel comfortable that there is actually a real person behind the site to provide them with access to instant help, a real person who can answer their questions. Live chat can be a powerful tool if used correctly.

Live chat is the same as the sales attendants in retail stores. Customers like to feel comfortable browsing through products. It makes them feel crowded and uneasy when sales personnel give them unnecessary attention. I would feel the same way too. Sales personnel stick around but approach customers only when they need help. The same works with live chat. It is always there, but customers can make use of the feature only when they need help, such as getting answers to inquiries, more details on products and so on.

The popularity of live chatting depends on how comfortable customers feel with the feature and their purpose in communicating with the business. Customers are more comfortable in using a phone to discuss situations that involve sharing of sensitive information, purchase of an expensive product or a problem resolution. Live chatting is usually preferred by customers for routine inquiries. These include checking the status of an order, requesting details, and inquiries related to inexpensive purchases. If the requirement is simple, customers do not feel the need to pick up a phone.

Studies clearly indicate that live chatting is a desirable and an important website design element that improves the customer’s experience and conversion rates. With live chat, the e-commerce sales personnel can convince a hesitant customer into making a purchase. A good percentage of people who use this feature are regular internet shoppers and it is a good strategy to nurture this customer segment. Live chat is high on the list of preferences of frequent internet shoppers, and should be part of your e-commerce website design.