Certainly nearly all of us will agree that 2008 was a difficult year in eCommerce. Choosing which area to focus our attentions on in 2009 needs to be more than charting your horoscope! Thousands of brick and mortar and internet businesses will fail in this new year because they failed to see the changing economy and buyer trends.

Internet marketers must be prepared to make rapid and significant changes to their business model to be, or remain successful in my opinion. To accomplish this, I have created a list of must do things for my business this year.

1. Evaluate the past 12 months business results. Pay special attention to any changes made in marketing strategies or venues. Review sales and non sales alike. Make sure you understand what worked and what didn’t.
2. Research what your competition was doing! Be sure that they are doing the very same thing and looking at your results. This will require tools if you don’t want to do it all manually. I use Hammertap to research sales on eBay, but this information can be extrapolated across the internet as a whole. Pay special attention to listing type, price, quantity and length of listings. Other points to consider include the quantity of items currently available, and who is selling these items.
3. Review your niche. Are the products or items you are selling going to continue to be desireable? Is there something in that niche that might compliment your items or should you change your product line? As the economy tries to recover, buyers will be looking for items they need vs. what they want. Does your current product line fit this change?
4. TEST, TEST, TEST! I can’t emphasize this enough! Test any changes you plan to make in SMALL quantities and SLOWLY! If you make wholesale changes you will be hard pressed to determine which of those changes affected your sales. Testing different keywords, titles, images and descriptions can have a huge impact on your sales.
5. Don’t be afraid to test other venues as well. It is a very real truth that some products are better suited for different venues. Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Bonanzle, Onlineauction, eCrater, iOffer all attract a different type of buyer. While Amazon and eBay certainly have the lead in page views, the multitude of other venues each attracts their own special group of buyers. Craigslist and similar classified ad style sites offer ecommerce sellers a very real opportunity for local sales.
6. Your own website: I have changed my theory on business websites. For small businesses, creating and maintaining your own ecommerce site can be a very time consuming project. Maintaining inventory, security, SEO, shopping carts, and design is in and of itself a full time job. This leaves very little time for all the other aspects of your business. I used to recommend that individuals, small to medium sized businesses have their own ecommerce site. In today’s business environment, I am suggesting that these sellers have their own website, but not necessarily to sell from directly. Promote your business and products with your website, and place widgets to your products for sale on the venues you use. Why reinvent the wheel? Whether it’s an eBay store, OLA House, Bonanzle Booth etc, I now feel it is better to let these sites maintain the backend stuff like shopping cart, payment integration, inventory etc. I also feel that internet marketers should find a reliable website developer. Off the shelf website providers like Godaddy are fine for a personal website but do not work well in my opinion for business oriented websites. I have had excellent results with Scott Pooler of iBusinesslogic.com. Scott knows the needs of ecommerce sellers and can develop a website that will compliment your business at a very competitive cost.

Tomorrow I will continue this series with ideas that I feel will enhance your business and success in 2009! Be sure to listen to my weekly live internet radio program on ecommerce! ebay & Beyond: Basics  To Business can be heard every Saturday morning 10 AM to Noon ET and remember you can participate live on our chat board or call in and ask a question or give a tip! You can download past episodes to your Mp3 player from our website, iTunes, and Talkshoe.

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When I began the eBay & Beyond: Basics To Business radio program on February 4, 2007 on a little AM radio station in Jamestown NY, I was in nearly uncharted territory. Back then, there were less than a handfull of live talk radio programs for those selling on the internet. Of course there was and is eBay Radio which focuses specifically on eBay, but other than that, I could find no other live call in programs either on terrestrial or internet radio anywhere in the country that discussed ecommerce on a multi venue level.

Just 2 short years ago, podcasting was still an infant. There were a few podcasts on ecommerce marketing and even fewer promoting products, bloggers or businesses. Today, podcasting and vidcasting have exploded into the forefront of ecommerce marketing.

With the plethura of podcasts and live programs on the internet today, I am humbled and honored to have achieved a spot on the Top 100 list on Talkshoe.com. I wanted to take this time to thank all of my loyal listeners the continue to listen to my rants and comments on ecommerce every Saturday morning. You are the best!

Many ecommerce marketers are discovering the benefits of live streaming on the internet and podcasts to promote their products or services. Producing live streams, podcasts or vidcasts has become very cost effective and realistically can be done with little more than a headset and webcam.

For those that wish to be a bit more professional, for less than $1000 you can set up a mini studio right in your home or office with a soundboard, microphones computer interface and a digital video camera.

Since the inception of the ebay & Beyond: Basics To Business radio program, many other friends and colleagues have begun their own programs. It is refreshing to see the increase in these programs and the differing viewpoints and ideas generated. 

Please take a minute when you get time and check out other programs I listen to including:

Agents of Revenue with John “ColderIce” Lawson and Scott Pooler.

Brainstorming Bonanzle with Walt Kolenda and Mitzi Swisher

The Auction Wally Show with Walt Kolenda and Mitzi Swisher

Tips From The Top with Marlene Gavens The Savvy Seller

The PowerSelling Mom with Danna Crawford

In the coming weeks I will explore in depth the steps in podcasting and vidcasting for your business.

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In todays economic environment you can find business advice almost anywhere. I have been the host of ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business for nearly 2 years and have had the honor and privilege of meeting and getting to know both John “ColderIce” Lawson CEO of 3rd Power Outlet and Scott Pooler CEO of iBusinesslogic.com. Both men have been guests on my radio program several times.

Today, John and Scott announced the premiere of their new podcast on TalkShoe called RevenueAgents which will air each Wednesday at 1:14 PM ET. Don’t ask me how they came up with this day and time, ask John! Scott says it was John’s choice.

Unique Perspective

I will let John and Scott provide their resumes. Suffice to say that both men have extensive experience as ecommerce marketers, yet come from very different beginnings in business. I believe this will provide listeners to their new venture a very unique perspective on ecommerce as a business. Whether you sell on eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Bonanzle, Onlineauction, your own ecommerce website or any other online venue, you owe it to yourself to take time to listen to their program.

eCommerce is ever changing, and with change comes the need for business owners to gather as much information as possible to make educated decisions regarding the future of their business. That is why I created ebay & Beyond: Basics To Business and it is also why John and Scott created The Agents of Revenue.

I look forward to the differing viewpoints John and Scott often have. While John and Scott may not agree on methodology, their goals are the same, success in the difficult but rewarding world of ecommerce.

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