As the economy has struggled and business has become increasingly competitive, consumers have watched customer service standards slide. Many online business owners think that doing business over the Internet is supposed to be inherently impersonal.

Others simply spend less on customer service because they argue that service can’t be measured accurately and, therefore, doesn’t provide a legitimate return on investment. While measuring the value of service isn’t an exact science, its value is evident when sales are lost due to a lack of service.

The perplexing thing, though, is that we know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s much cheaper to market to our current customers (resulting in repeat purchases) than it is to attract new customers.

Bain Consulting has suggested that it’s over six times cheaper to retain customers than to attract new ones, and that repeat customers spend more than two times as much as new customers. Looking at the numbers, it seems obvious that businesses would do well to invest in customer service that will drive repeat purchases. Yet we frequently see businesses reducing service standards while simultaneously spending a fortune attempting to attract new business.

Providing Better Online Customer Service

The key to creating a better customer experience online is connection. Consumers who want the lowest price and an impersonal shopping experience can take their business to Amazon.com or Walmart.com. These sites can get away with not connecting with customers on a personal level because of their breadth of product availability and low prices.

The rest of the online business world has to instead compete on service or be driven out of business by one behemoths. Small e-commerce businesses must absolutely develop a connection with customers in order to keep them from leaving for the cheapest alternative (i.e. Amazon).

Here are a few simple ways that online business owners can offer better customer service and build a connection with customers:

1. Consistently provide order updates.

Customers hate being left in the dark in regards to the status of their orders. Make sure customers have an easy way to check on the progress of their orders–especially when the product is “made to order”.

2. Properly educate your customer service team.

There are few better times to develop a human connection with customers than when they call customer service to ask about a product. There are also few better ways to lose customers than to have customers feel like they know more about your product than your customer service team does.

3. Skip the customer service script.

Let your customer service representatives spend as much time as it takes to answer a customers’ questions. Many companies aim to minimize time spent on the phone with customers due to the cost.

However, you might consider looking at the cost of lengthy phone calls as an investment in customer retention. Zappos has a cult following for this exact reason — it believes that spending time on the phone helping customers in any way possible is going to drive repeat sales (even if that means spending over 10 hours on a marathon call with a customer).

4. Be available.

Provide a direct line for customers to get in touch with you if they need to follow up for any reason. One surefire way to make a customer feel disconnected from your company is to make him use an automated phone system. Small online businesses can win through good customer service, and making customers talk to a computer (as if they’re calling a large corporation) is certifiably bad service.

It’s easy to get caught up in cost-cutting and focusing on efficiencies when running an online business that never actually meets customers in person, but be wary of scaling back customer service. Great service may not be explicitly measurable, but it’s the best way to build a loyal following and drive repeat purchases which are, after all, the most valuable of all sales.

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Photo: Blanco

Tyler Shearburn is the CEO and Founder of Comfy Sacks, an online retailer of over-sized beanbags. In order to really know his products, Tyler owns every size Comfy Sack his company sells. On the side, Tyler consults with e-commerce platforms on their structure and strategy. He encourages readers to reach out to him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Today, there are a variety of web-based services that enable the most technophobic entrepreneur to launch an online business with little to no knowledge of technology.

If you plan to start an online business, or improve your current e-commerce business, here’s a look at tech-savvy resources to help you get started:

1. Develop a Business Plan

Your business plan is the foundation of your business. It is the roadmap that clearly indicates where you want it to go and how you plan on getting there. Most entrepreneurs, have an idea of where they’d like their business to be in the next few years, but they’re unsure of how to put it on paper and where to sart.

Enloop, a free business plan writing app automatically writes your business plan for you and evaluates your odds of success. The app also provides forecasts, industry data, and comparisons based on your inputs. You can also look for a business loan and invite others to view and share their input on your business plan.

2. Establish Your (Visual) Brand

Branding is essential to small business success. In fact, your brand defines your business; it affects how others view you in the marketplace, and how they respond to you (via sales). While branding encompasses many different aspects of your company, one of the first and most basic forms of branding is your logo. Your logo is important because it is everywhere — on your website, product, packaging, and all consumer facing touchpoints.

These days you don’t have to break the bank to develop a great looking logo. Instead, use web services that will design a logo for you such as Logo Maker Pro, a software program that allows you to make original logo designs and choose from starter templates.

However if you aren’t the most creative crayon in the bunch, opt for Logo Bee, an online design company dedicated to providing brands with original images to use on their websites, products and stationery. Their in-house design team takes your ideas and develops several different logo for you to choose from within 2-5 business days.

The only problem is, this is where most small business owners stop.

Just because your new business website looks ready — that doesn’t necessarily mean that it truly is.

For example, some graphic designers love to obsess over shading, textures and gradients and often completely miss something much more important – search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO is a very important element of launching a successful website — if you want your newly minted website to receive the “organic” traffic it deserves. However, the sad fact is most business websites are a big lumbering mess “under the hood” — badly in need of a tune up.

So while most folks will share advice that only deals with marketing your new website after its launch, there is much more you can do pre-launch to ensure your new online business hits the ground running.

Here are the top 13 things your web design and development team should ensure are in place before sending your masterpiece out into the world. Does your new business website have:

1. Google Analytics (GA)

GA is a service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visits to a website.  The Google Analytics tool allows you to track the success of your site by giving you access to important data such as: visits, unique visits, pageviews, time spent, etc. Installing their code on your site will empower you to also measure your advertising ROI as well as track your Flash, video, and social networking sites and applications.

2. Descriptive URLs

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. Your company websites’ URL lets search engines and visitors see the content of your page(s) at a glance. For example, (www.gold.com/the-precious-shiny-metal.html) is a descriptive URL that shares keywords eluding to page content. Ensure your website URLs are descriptive rather than vague and obscure (i.e. www.gold.com/123456.html).

3. Page Titles and Meta Description

“According to SEO experts, a webpage’s title is by far the most important factor in getting better search engine rankings.” If fact, according to Google “Titles are critical to giving users a quick insight into the content of a result and why it’s relevant to their query. It’s often the primary piece of information used to decide which result to click on, so it’s important to use high-quality titles on your web pages.” In a nutshell, this is information search engines display when your pages show up for user-enabled searches. Make sure both your page titles and meta descriptions are informative, intriguing and under 70 characters in length.

4. Heading Tags

Heading tags are used to define the headings in your page. For example, if you view your website’s code you’ll likely see <h1> to <h6> tags which are used to define HTML headings. These tags makes the page easier to read for visitors and easier for search engines — such as Google — to rank for relevant keywords.

5. XML and Static Sitemaps

A sitemap is a list of pages on your website that is accessible to crawlers or users. These tiny digital ‘maps’ allow Google to find it’s way around your site more easily. Creating an XML and HTML sitemap and submitting to search engines mean: more traffic and more pages of your site are indexed.

Implementing basic SEO strategies can increase the visibility of your company’s website in “organic” (natural and unpaid) search results. The higher your e-commerce website ranks in search results, the more frequently it will appear when searched — thus the potential for increased traffic to your website.

3 Essential Steps to Create an Effective SEO Campaign

To start a successful SEO campaign takes step-by-step planning, systematic implementation and long term dedication. If you aim for the right kind of optimization you may notice a difference in your search engine rankings within several weeks.

Whether your a startup or established business, here’s how to start and improve your SEO efforts by following three essential steps.

Disclaimer: Search engine rankings are a fickle thing and even the best efforts can give you unexpected ranking results. Because of this, there is no way to absolutely guarantee a number one spot on Google regardless of what you do and anybody who makes this promise either doesn’t really understand the fickle nature of SEO or is flat out lying to you. The only thing any well done SEO campaign can guarantee is decent long-term rank improvement, not perfect positioning.

1. Keyword development

We’re going to assume you’ve already identified your niche market. This is the first and most important element because a well-defined niche makes keyword development much easier.

Start by researching relevant keywords for your business. Use free services like the Google Adwords keyword selector tool, Wordtracker keywords tool or WordStream’s free keyword tool.

The goal is to develop a list of ideal search words and phrases that an online search engine user is searching for within your niche. Then you’ll start to get an idea of the principal and related long tail keywords and phrases that your target audience searches.

It’s important to know how many people are searching for specific keywords words to understand the possible competition. Pay close attention to “related word” suggestions as well.

Keyword research is important because you’ll utilize specific words in the context of your company website content.

While planning her wedding, Erica was surprised by the cost of quality, unique wedding favors. She also found it difficult to find a large selection of quality low-priced wedding accessories and wedding favors in one place.

“Weddings cost enough, why should quality wedding favors and accessories be so difficult to afford?” said Erica. “I come from a family of entrepreneurs so it was only natural that I combined my two passions [wedding planning and business] and developed my own [company].”

Now she’s the Founder and CEO of a popular on-stop shop wedding website that offers a variety of wedding favors and accessories to suit every bride’s needs, LittleThingsFavors.com. The website has been operating since 2007 and she’s managed to carve out a competitive advantage by turning her online company’s office space into a New Jersey showroom that has been open since 2008.

Learn how Erica grew her business with minimal startup costs to profitability and over $2 million in annual revenue and why she believes you should never give up on your dream — if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again!

How I Got Started:

In 2003, I started planning my first wedding browsing websites and shopping online for all the little things I needed but couldn’t find in local stores. But even online, everything I needed was scattered across numerous websites. It was so hard to find one company that carried everything I needed.

My business idea, Little Things Favors blossomed out of my wedding planning process. I wanted to create an online shop that a bride could go to and find all the items she needed to complete her wedding day. I started small with a brief 2-year stint on eBay, selling my wares and testing the market, but quickly realized that online auction sites and associated costs were eating into my profits.

I learned basic web design and programming language so I could dabble with my first wedding website, Two Hearts Favors. However, the e-commerce platform was basic and limiting. As my online business started to grow I knew I needed an e-commerce solution that would scale, thus Little Things Favors was launched online in 2007.

In three short months we reached the top of Google search engine results pages (SERP) coming in sixth. For a website that was so new I was surprised it ranked so well, so quickly. Orders began coming in quicker than I could handle and I hired my first employee.

I knew in order to keep my first page position it would require much more work and I began reading everything I could find on search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media optimization (SMO) and social media marketing (SMM).

Within a year, we had grown so quickly, I moved out of my basement office and into office space. I decided to distinguish myself from online competitors, by leasing an office space that could double as a showroom.

In late 2008, amidst an economic recession, his concept to help people save more took form and DeBlasi started planning to make his business idea a reality. With limited startup capital, DeBlasi and co-founder Tom Cangley decided to build the website themselves. Several years later, touted as online shopping experts, they’re product has been hailed as one of the best online money-saving sites on the web.

Learn how Frank DeBlasi and co-founder Tom Cangley turned their love of bargain hunting into a successful business and why DeBlasi believes entrepreneurs must be able to accept and deal with possible setbacks along the way.

How I Got Started:

As a true bargain hunter, I have always been big on saving money.

I like to get the most bang for my buck. It’s not just something I feel is necessary, I actually enjoy the thrill of getting a good deal! I know how great it feels to save money. But, helping other people save –  that feeling is even greater.

Owning my own business has been something I have always wanted to do.

In late 2008, I began planning out the concept for my company Hoopla Doopla, an online shopping website. I envisioned a site that would not only save people money when shopping online, it would be intelligent in doing so. I wanted to offer great deals from popular merchants, and share my company’s profits with my members. With the nature of the economy at this time, my idea proved to be a great concept for a business.

By trade, I am a web and digital media professional. With startup money hard to come by these days, my professional skills proved to be valuable in getting my business off the ground. My co-founder, Tom Cangley and I were able to combine our 15+ years of experience, and save lots of money by building the entire site ourselves from the ground up.

Today Hoopla Doopla, Inc. is a leading cash back shopping website, providing coupon codes, discounts, daily deals and cash back from over 1,700 online stores. We exist to provide a better online shopping experience, and to put money where it belongs – back in people’s pockets!

We’ve taken our online shopping and money saving concept a step further by making our members revenue sharing partners in our business via our referral program. Our members receive an equivalent of 20% of the earnings of the new members they refer to us for the lifetime of their membership, creating residual income for them.

Within its first two years of opration, Hoopla Doopla has been hailed as one of the best online money-saving sites on the web.

Possibly you’re looking to turn a hobby into an additional income, take your ‘brick and mortar’ business online, or perhaps you’re ready to launch a new full-time online venture?

Like any new business, setting up an eCommerce store involves an abundance of research, strategy, planning and business savvy. Then, once your online business is up-and-running, there is much to consider for ongoing operations, customer service, marketing, expansion and more.

Here are six things to consider once you decide to start an e-commerce business:

1. Research

Start by researching products you love, relate to and wish to sell. Also don’t forget to assess your competition. Think about your chances of succeeding in a particular market and begin to locate suppliers that will reliably provide a good product for a cost-effective price.

Ensure that you can retrieve information when in need. While running a business, entrepreneurs tend to encounter unpredicted challenges. It’s important that once you face a challenge, you add to your knowledge base.

2. Invest time

For your eCommerce business to be successful, time is your biggest investment.

The more time and effort you put in to your business, the greater your chances of success become. However, depending on your model, once setup, an eCommerce business can also benefit you if you invest a short amount of time, as long as your time is being spent effectively.

3. Serve your customers

Develop a system for managing customer service requests and inquires. Look to put your customers first and ensure your team is attentive and passionate about their work.

“‘We are experiencing problems,” wrote CEO Scott Wagner on its website. “We understand this is impacting some customers, and we take this situation very seriously. Everyone at GoDaddy.com is working to restore all sites affected by this outage as soon as possible.” The company tweeted later that it’s “making progress” and “some service has already been restored.’”

Small business owners impacted by the outages may find solace in the fact that they aren’t alone when these types of incidents occur, but knowing how to navigate a setback of this nature is paramount.

If your company exists as an online pure play or relies heavily on online sales to drive revenue, a website outage is equivalent to a nuclear meltdown and could very likely incite chaos.

Because for a brief moment, time stops your pulse starts to race and your business world appears to come crashing down. It’s unavoidable yet the very thought of it makes you cringe. For a split second you realize that you simply weren’t prepared.

How to Manage a Technology Crisis in Business

Online sales are the very lifeline of many companies.As Internet adoption rates increase and e-tailing soars “online shoppers in the United States will spend $327 billion in 2016, up 45% from $226 billion this year and 62% from $202 billion in 2011,” according to Forrester Research Inc. projections. Therefore a few minutes, hours or even days of website outages could result in significant losses.

While web outages are generally out of your company’s control, there are specific things you and your team can do to mitigate loss and proactively prepare for downtime in the future.

Here are five steps small business owners can take if a website outage occurs.

1.Make sure your site is actually down.

Take a deep breath and check to make sure your site is actually down. “Visit the website yourself, and press Shift + Refresh to make sure you’re not seeing a cached version (hold down Shift while reloading or refreshing the page) … You will need to check the website on your mobile phone or phone a friend. To be doubly sure, ask your friend to check Where’s It Up? or Down for Everyone or Just Me?, which will confirm whether your website is down just for you or for everyone.”

Today, Federman has built 1SaleADay into a daily deal website that offers one deal in each of their five categories: Main, Wireless, Watch, Family, and Jewelry. Each deal is posted at midnight EST, and is available for 24 hours. 1SaleADay is in a market that “continues to be on fire when it comes to investments and attention. In 2011, the industry rocketed from ‘the next big thing to watch’ to demonstrated success and profitability,” said Boyan Josic, CEO of Daily Deal Media, the leading publication covering the daily deal market.”

Learn how Ben Federman built a successful online business and why you should invest for the future, not just the present.

How We Got Started:

I was always a fan of selling consumer electronics and other consumer goods. After being discharged from the Army in 2003, I began working at a camera store to save up money to do what I really wanted — start my own business.

In 2006, at the age of 23 and with a combination of cash, credit cards and other loans, I started 1SaleADay.com.

Yet, for the time being, the Internet remains the one sanctuary where anyone — no matter who you are — can compete with the big players and still yield great results.

In order to do so successfully, we must learn how to separate ourselves from the competition and stand out as a company that people want to do business with. Here are three basic (but often overlooked) ways to make your startup unique and start running a successful Internet business today:

1. Develop a clean and professional website.

For an online business, the quality of your website is paramount to your success. It needs to look professional and clean, and present all the information that your customer needs in a very accessible way.

The Internet is a fast-paced world where people will leave if you can’t hold onto their attention. This means that customers will make a decision about whether or not they’ll stay on your website within the first few seconds. If your website is full of clutter, hard to navigate, and not extremely specific about what it is you sell, you will lose out on potential sales, no matter how great your services are.

2. Invest in search engine optimization. 

SEO is absolutely essential to being a successful online business owner.  It is the process of getting your page ranked higher in search results for your niche. The higher your page rank, the more clicks and traffic you’ll get — resulting in increased sales.