Smart strategy: six tips to e-commerce success.

• Author: Little, Candace M.
• Position: Techknowledge - Interview

Is your small business ready to open an online storefront? Consider this advice from Utah business owners and website experts.

1. Start with a Sellable Product

   Even with a custom-designed website and a streamlined checkout process, not everything sells online. Matt Maxfield, director of operation and development at Klymit, says in the end, what makes their website the most successful is the company's ability to make innovative products.

   "Having innovative products that attract the attention of consumers and encourage them to learn more about the product and company," Maxfield says, has contributed to almost three years of growing online sales.

2. Leave the Tech Stuff to the Techies

   Rachel Harmon Schutz, owner of Darlybird, has been selling a hodgepodge of fun and useful items for women and children online for the past six years. When she first started, she says, "I had a total artistic vision of how I wanted the website to look, but I really didn't know how to make it happen. That's where outsourcing comes in handy." She hired local graphic designers and collaborated with local and out-of-state web programmers to get her site both darling and functional.

3. Prepare for an Ongoing Project

   Ryan Camomile, owner of Infogenix, a web development firm says, "The No. 1 mistake I see is not realizing that an e-commerce site is a living, breathing and evolving system."

   He says business owners need to do three things to sustain their site:

   * Don't rely on your own preferences for how the site should work--use testing and feedback to determine this.

   * Divide your website budget into phases so you can revamp many features after launch and after usability testing.

   * Establish a good marketing budget and plan for each phase.

4. Get Your Virtual Toolbox Ready

   Camomile recommends a wide range of tools including:

   * Analytics to track visits, users, keywords and e-commerce data.

   * Marketing tools like AdWords, Hubspot and Microsoft AdCenter that help you manage campaigns and.track visitors from referrals to purchases.

   * Affiliate tools like Amazon Marketplace, Share-a-sale or Commission Junction to help set up resellers and referrers to your site.

   * Sales-management plan and tools like coupon codes, seasonal sales, discounts, etc., that help boost purchases in a set amount of time.

5. Set up Payment Processing

   Camomile says it's easy to get set up to process payments, especially if you are selling within the United States. He recommends two options:

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