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Having a successful ecommerce business is contingent on having a powerful and usable presence on the web. If you have an outdated or unusable website, it may be costing you more than you think. Fortunately, there are many options for getting your website upgraded and updated as your business grows. Is it time to move your site to a better ecommerce platform? How difficult is it to make a change? What do you need to know? As President of Miva Merchant, I can help soften your ecommerce growing pains so you can get ready to ask yourself some hard questions about the future of your ecommerce site.
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Growing Pains: Is it time to build a new web site?!Rick Wilson President Miva Merchant!
ASD/IMA August 2013 – Las Vegas, Nevada
Growing Pains:!Is It Time To Build A New Website?
Rick Wilson!President!
Miva Merchant
9 Questions To Ask To Understand If You Need A New Site
1. Do You Even Own Your Own Website?!2. Are All Of Your Pages (or Most of them) Static?!3. How Hard Is It To Maintain Your Product Catalog?!4. What Is Your Platform's Historical Uptime?!5. How Fast Does Your Site Load?!6. How Does Your Site Look In Different Browsers? !7. How About Tablets and/or Phones?!8. Is Your Site Secure (and How Would You Know)?!9. How Much Underlying Control Do You Have?
Do You Even Own Your Own Website?Do You Own Your Domain Name?!
• www.facebook.com/yourcompanyname doesn't count
Do You Even Own Your Own Website?• www.yelp.com/yourcompanyname doesn't count either
Do You Even Own Your Own Website?• Specifically do you own www.YourCompanyName.com?
Are All Of Your Pages (or Most of them) Static?What is a Static Page?!
• A static page is pure html/css that's saved in a text file!• Usually built and maintained with something like Dreamweaver!• Or directly in a text editor!
How Do I Know If I Have Static Pages?!• The easiest way to tell is if you need to make a global change (such as your logo)
to your website, do you have to edit every single page or can you just do it once?!Why Is Having Static Pages Bad?!
• In and of themselves there's nothing wrong with Static Page based websites.!• However if you have more than a couple of pages, it's inefficient!• The likelihood of security issues, mistakes and otherwise bad content increases!• If you have an ecommerce site, you'll quickly find yourself in a position where it's
impossible to maintain and/or grow your site
How Hard Is It To Maintain Your Product Catalog?• Designing and Building a Professional Site Can Be "Hard"!!
• A Professional Site Requires A Professional Graphic Designer At A Minimum!!
• Maintaining Your Product Catalog Should Be "Easy"!!
• Importing (and Exporting) Product and Category Information Is Standard
How Hard Is It To Maintain Your Product Catalog?• Updating Product and Categories Via Web Browser
How Hard Is It To Maintain Your Product Catalog?• Updating Product Inventory!!!!!!!
!• Updating Product Images
What Is Your Platform's Historical Uptime?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availability!
How Fast Does Your Site Load?http://blog.kissmetrics.com/loading-time/!
How Fast Does Your Site Load?
How Does Your Site Look In Different Browsers?http://glenndejaeger.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/why-webapps/!
How Does Your Site Look In Different Browsers?http://crossbrowsertesting.com!!
How Does Your Site Look In Different Browsers?!!
How About Tablets and/or Phones?http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2011/11/how-to-iphone-ipad-friendly/!!
How About Tablets and/or Phones?Avoid Complex Navigation!!
How About Tablets and/or Phones?Don't Forget Tablets (and Phones) Have Multiple Orientations!!!
How About Tablets and/or Phones?Responsive Or Redirect To A Mobile Site (But Don't Do Nothing At All)!!!
Is Your Site Secure (and How Would You Know)?Google Malware Warning!
Is Your Site Secure (and How Would You Know)?Google Malware Warning!
Is Your Site Secure (and How Would You Know)?McAfee Secure
Is Your Site Secure (and How Would You Know)?What is PCI?
Is Your Site Secure (and How Would You Know)?Be Extra Careful If:!!
• Your Site Is Based On WordPress!
• If Your Ecommerce Store Is On An Open Source Platform
How Much Underlying Control Do You Have?Make Sure You Know The Answers To These Questions:!
• Do I have complete control of my HTML/CSS and JavaScript?!• Can I access my Database?!• Is my Database using a standards based structure (like MySQL)!• Can I run my own PHP scripts, etc...!• Do I have a full hosting plan or is it limited in some way?!• Can I connect my ecommerce site to external systems/programs!
• CRM!• ERP/Accounting!• Fulfillment!• Order Management!• Inventory
What To Look For If You Build A New Site• Make sure you own both your domain name and your actual website!
• Use a CMS so you don't waste all of your resources doing simple updates!
• Confirm that it's easy to both Import and Export your data (all of your data)!
• Get a demo of the Admin interface to make sure you're capable of updates!
• Take a deep dive into your platforms Uptime (99.5 sounds good but isn't)!
• Site speed is important and make sure it holds up under load!
• Test multiple browsers and use tools like crossbrowsertesting.com or similar!
• Think through your mobile design strategy, especially Tablets (iPad)!!
• Security is dead serious online, don't risk your business by being an Ostrich!
• Make sure you pick a platform and design a site with the future in mind
Questions?
Thank You!Rick Wilson!President
Miva Merchant!www.mivamerchant.com!
rwilson@mivamerchant.com
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