Last time, we started to take a look at the most common reasons

why most people don’t make progress on their e-commerce and

Internet marketing goals. Today, we continue the discussion. [See

part 1 of this article at http://www.ecommercediva.com/articles/excuses2.html]

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Excuse #5:

” I just don’t have time. I’m too busy dealing with [customers,

clients, day job, family, etc.] to deal with my web site.”

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Isn’t it interesting that the folks who have the fewest orders to

fill or have the fewest clients to serve are usually the same

people who say they don’t have time to market their products

or services?

That’s because the most successful entrepreneurs – the ones with

all the orders and clients they can handle – know how important

marketing is to establishing and growing their business. They don’t

put marketing at the bottom of their to-do lists, waiting until

everything else is done before they get to it. The successful ones

make the time; they schedule it in on an ongoing basis. It’s a

winning habit.

THE REMEDY:

You can do the same! It’s a matter of priority. Try this: Block out

some time on your schedule to do your marketing tasks. Make this

appointment with yourself, and keep it! Treat it as if it were a

hot date with the man or woman of your dreams, or an important

meeting with your biggest client. In other words, be on time,

be prepared when you get there, and be adamant about not

allowing interruptions or distractions.

Actually, I started doing this myself. I call it “Marketing

Mondays” and I block out a minimum of four hours each and

every Monday to work on my web site, write new articles, create

marketing materials, and the like. I’ve been doing it for several

months now, and the results have been phenomenal! I’m blazing

through all of the marketing stuff that got put on the back burner

last year, including my new web site,

http://www.EcommerceDiva.com, which launched earlier this year.

If you’re looking at your Palm Pilot or DayPlanner and you’re still

convinced you don’t have enough time for marketing, check out Suzanne

Falter-Barns’ list of “30 Guaranteed Time Wasters” from her book, “Living

Your Joy: A Practical Guide to Happiness.” You can download a “Time

Wasters” excerpt here (PDF):

[http://www.howmuchjoy.com/11GuaranteedTimeSavers.pdf]

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Excuse #6:

“Every time I sit down to work on my marketing, I just can’t seem

to stay focused.”

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This one goes hand in hand with procrastination. You sit down to

work on your web site, all full of gusto and good intentions. But

the next thing you know, you’re rearranging items on your desk,

sharpening pencils (which you probably don’t even use!), checking

email, doodling, and everything else. Sound familiar?

THE REMEDY:

Let me tell you, I’m great at finding little meaningless things

to do when I’m dreading a particular task! But I’m going to share

three tricks that have really worked for me. Maybe they’ll work

for you, too.

1. TIME IT.

If you know that a four-hour “Marketing Monday”-type block of time

is just not going to work for you, try it in one-hour increments,

four days a week. The shorter time frame will leave a smaller

opportunity for you to get distracted. Schedule the date and time

for it, then get yourself a timer. (My friend Janet Hall, “The

Organizing Wizard,” [http://www.overhall.com] gave me this tip.)

Set the timer for 60 minutes, and work like crazy for those 60

minutes with total focus. When the timer goes off, put the

marketing away and work on something else. For best results, skip

the timer on your digital watch and get a regular old kitchen

timer. There’s something about the ticking noise that really

gets me going, and when I hear that “ding!” at the end, I just

feel like celebrating because I know it’s over!

2. PICTURE IT.

Sometimes we get too bogged down with tasks that we lose sight

of the big picture. What do you really want from your business?

What is it that you’re working for? And what will your life look

like if you have a thriving, successful business? A certain house

or car? More time with your family? A tropical vacation? What

does success look like for you? Find a picture that represents

your “success” — cut it out of a magazine or print it off the

Internet if you don’t have an actual photograph — and post it

at your desk, tape it to your computer, or place it wherever you

do your marketing work. And every time you feel like you’re losing

focus on your marketing efforts, look at the image and think about

how completing the task will being you one step closer to

achieving your dream.

3. SMELL IT!

(Say what??) No, seriously. Try aromatherapy. Aside from all the

anecdotal evidence, scientific research now shows that really is

something to ancient art of using essential oils to heal the mind,

body and spirit. Specifically, oils of basil, geranium,

frankincense, lemon, peppermint, and rosemary can be used to

improve your ability to focus and concentrate. Be sure to use the

pure essential oils and not just “fragrance oils.” Just add a few

drops to a tissue, and inhale. (NOTE: If you’re pregnant, avoid

basil, peppermint, and rosemary altogether; and avoid frankincense

and geranium during the first trimester.)

For me, a combination of frankincense and geranium works best. I’ve

Been studying aromatherapy and creating all-natural products for

the past 21/2 years, so I create my own blends. But you can find all

kinds of pure oils, spritzes for the room and the body, and plug-in

diffusers for your home, office, and car at your local health food

store, retailers like The Body Shop, or online shops like Indigo

Wild (http://www.IndigoWild.com — check out their “Zum Body Mist”

in Rosemary-Mint.) When I feel my mind wandering, I just get a good

whiff of frankincense and geranium, and I’m immediately good to go!

If you’re too much of a skeptic to try aromatherapy, just pull out

a freshly minted $20 bill and inhale the scent of fresh money!

So there you have it…

You have no more excuses not to turn your web site into the

fabulous, cash-generating marketing vehicle that it can be.

What are you waiting for? GET TO WORK!!

(c) Copyright 2005 Jamila White. All rights reserved.

[NOTE: You are welcome to “reprint” this article online as

long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the

“about the author” info at the end and the copyright notice),

and you send a copy of your reprint to articles@jamilawhite.com.]

Fragrances are always a popular item. It is easy to see why many people choose to sell fragrances online. If you have always wanted to try your hand at your own online fragrance business, and you are interested in wholesale dropship, here are the top 5 tips you need to know to get a great start.

Find a Great Online Fragrance Company

You might consider taking a look at FragranceNet.com if you really want to get started easily. The company has a wholesale dropship division that will help you to sell all sorts of popular fragrances. They will fulfill your orders by including your paperwork in their dropship orders to promote your business. Their US and International shipping charges are spelled out clearly on their website. They carry over 10,000 fragrances which can be promoted on your own website. This includes photos where available and regular update of available inventory.

Sell Designer Fragrances

One excellent and experienced perfume wholesale dropshipper is Aura Fragrances of Paris. They are a family business from France that sells both brand name and designer fragrances. They offer wholesale drop ship services with no minimum purchase, and no membership fees. The company is able to communicate in English, French, and Spanish, which is a plus for anyone wanting to deal with international customers. Their wholesale information is clearly spelled out on their website, so it is possible for beginning online resellers to get going right away.

Get Your Paperwork In Order

All online wholesalers will require your reseller license information. This usually comes in the form of a tax identification number. The paperwork differs depending upon the state you live in. You must have this number in order to buy wholesale from any reputable dealer, and then to sell the products on your website. Do check your own state information for appropriate legal approval before you attempt to buy or sell anything. And check legal guidelines for online selling as well, because you will potentially be selling almost anywhere.

Start Out With Testers

Testers are bottles of fragrance that are packaged so that you can test the fragrances to see if you like them. They are offered wholesale at a huge discount from the regular retail price, but the bottles are not small. They are usually of generous size. You can order testers from most wholesalers easily. You become more aware of the products you plan to sell. You will also be better able to write product descriptions that help to sell your products. Writing your own unique product descriptions is one key to good sales that most successful online retailers use to distinguish them from the rest of the crowd.

Sell Beautiful Bottles

Most often, the most beautiful bottles sell the perfume. The luxury of the bottle is part of the fascination with the perfume. Develop an eye for fashionable bottles the same way that you would develop an eye for fashionable clothing. Look for sophistication, timeless styling, beautiful colors, lovely packaging. View this as an artistic endeavor and you cannot go wrong.

If you need help with the business aspects of dropship, you might consider a membership in Salehoo, or Dropshipping Wholesalers to get you started. These companies do not specialize in perfumes, buy you should be able to find perfumes for sale through their directories. Add these tips to wholesale dropship smarts, and you have half the battle won.

It is difficult to choose one, when you have many good alternatives. If you were already a business person, you would have come across many situations where you had to make tough decisions. Only after adequate research, you can take the finest decisions. Even for choosing the best platform for your online store, you need to examine and explore all the available options in the market. One of those online stores creating platforms is the Shopify Development services.

Shopify App Development service is a popular ecommerce platform available in the market for upcoming online businesses. It provides a self-hosting solution. In addition, it features a bunch of tools in exchange of a recurring subscription charge. It further sets up a retail space for your online shop as the host.

When you buy a physical location for rent, it comes with walls and display fixtures. Similarly, Shopify gives the store owners front-end design templates. Along with that, it contains the ammo required to set up a basic ecommerce store.

You can also customize it with the help of a developer. A developer can easily exploit the functionalities it hosts. He does it by linking add-ons from the app store to make up for missing wants or needs. After signing up, a standard factory shop can undergo customization within minutes by following prompts that Shopify provides.

Some deeper adjustment by your developer can make sure your storefront puts your finest foot forward for start on. Maintaining the content of this storefront after its launch is easier than ever. This simpler repair is possible with a control panel that resembles the navigational properties of WordPress.

If you are looking to enter the market rapidly, Shopify development services is at your rescue. Moreover, if you have a tight initial fund, and you do not need extensive customizations Shopify App development is a great way out for you.

Shopify Custom Development

Your store needs further configuration, even with the development support. In addition to the monthly subscription costs, you can have a:

– Reliable

– Secure

– Responsive

– Successful E-Commerce Application

You can get all this at a low cost with Shopify. Shopify Custom Development is a step up from the free drag and drop type of online platforms. Shopify has subscription upgrade options such as Shopify Plus. It enhances the scalability of your business requirements over time through to an Enterprise level.

While the lower level options are great for your initial start, your website will someday, rush through more traffic. Number of orders would increase. Your novel marketing strategies like using gift cards or creative referral promotions would attract more traffic to your store. This would push the need for migration to a different and a more reliable platform.

Benefits of Shopify Custom Development

As an e-com shop creator, Shopify Custom Development brings in many advantages. This has popularized it extensively. Nevertheless, here is a listing some of the most important advantages of Shopify:

Ease of Management

An ease of management is a unique selling point of Shopify Development Services. A central control panel gives you an opportunity to manage content, product items etc.

Feasible Installation

Its subscription charges are highly affordable and the installation is very simple too. This helps the first-time users, as sometimes they lack basic awareness regarding the initial setup.

Vast Payment Options

Vast ranges of payment options are also available for you store. This delimits the loss of customer that you could face because of lack of payment options.

Marketing Benefits

Shopify has pre-installations of SEO features and it has integration with Google analytics. This helps the store owners to keep in touch with their buyers and promote their store.

I believe that development of the following underlying factors is what will eventually drive the development of the eCommerce environment in East Africa. The major factors include making technology accessible to all people, giving the people skills to be able to utilize the technology at hand, making the technology cheap and affordable to the users, and lastly but not the least, developing applications that address local challenges and problems. I have discussed the ideas in detail below;

Making technology accessible

In Uganda, for example, there are 4 major wireless telecommunications companies that double as internet service providers, these have more subscribers than all other players whether in voice or data services combined. These include MTN, Airtel, Orange and Uganda Telecom. Among them, they have over 20 million subscribers, and they have been able to cover all the major towns and districts. This rollout is repeated throughout the region in neighboring countries that are politically stable such as Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi, but some of the very players in Uganda or different players. We can therefore be able to conclude that a majority of East Africans have access to a mobile phone or a computer and many of them use data services.

Bridging the skills gap

This is called technology capacity building, no its called bridging the digital divide, where people gain skills to completely utilize the information and communications tools that they already posses. East Africa has one of the world’s youngest populations, many of which have attained some education and a considerable number can read and write, and for the youth at least over 20, every 4 in 5 has a mobile phone or access to a mobile phone. They do posses basic skills on how to use a phone and many of them can carry out basic activities online such as search on platforms like Google and yahoo, and a considerable number is signed up to social networking platforms like Facebook and twitter. With a little investment in awareness, many of these people will be able to utilize the many available online tools to better their lives.

Making Tech Affordable

When I look at this, ISPs (it means internet service providers) in Uganda have been sending mixed signals. For example MTN Uganda gives each and every subscriber free 15Mbs every month, and to me, this strategy basically aims at making subscribers who would otherwise not pay for data services to realize how important being online really is and then eventually start buying, which increases the lifetime bottom line value of the subscriber which is good for MTN. I just feel that data is still expensive across the board. ISPs should continue working on how to bring these prices a down a bit. This will not only increase subscriptions, but will also spur increased use, both contributing to growth. I am not sure about the data prices in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda, but it is my belief that they should be lower in Rwanda than anywhere else in the region because their government is working on turning major cities into technology hubs, and this can only happen with affordable data services.

Developing Local Digital Content

The last factor of developing digital content that people can easily connect to and use, which comes with innovative solutions to local problems, could be the most critical, but it is still very wanting, at least here in Uganda, this is because there is no effort whatsoever from the major stake holder (see ISPs and government) to drive local content development through media campaigns or sponsoring of internet based companies.

Therefore, increased use of data services in Uganda, East Africa, or Africa for that matter will depend on the factors described above, but to a large extent, will hinge on the development of Information and communication technology solutions, specifically designed for solving local problems.

Don’t be afraid to comment, tell me what you think.

Custom eCommerce development from Verecom ensure that your website is built with a sound business strategy and cutting edge development technologies. Our experienced project managers work closely with you to create a clear strategy with well-defined goals and objectives before we build your website.

Whether you are looking for creating a brand new eCommerce website or optimizing an existing site, our team of eCommerce Solutions and designers will develop your dream eCommerce website that delivers an engaging online experience for your customers and maximizes your conversions.

At Evince Development offers solution to those who would like to sell their products and services online. E-Commerce is a field that requires an experience and a day to day operation in setting up the store. We have a highly experienced team that will help you out in setting up the store and our technical maintenance team to help you if you face any problems in your day to day operation. They will help you out if you have any problems in handling frontend or backend or if you face any technical issues.

E-commerce is usually handled through a shopping cart system in which customers select products and purchase them using a charge card. There are many variations to this model depending on how a company does business. For example, a business that only sells downloadable software can use a simple cart system. A company with an inventory and that ships physical products will need a more complicated e-commerce Web site to connect with its supply chain and shipping services.

eCommerce Web Design & Website Development:-

When it comes to eCommerce websites, or an eCommerce redesign, you need a partner that is focused and experienced in providing companies the best in professional e-Commerce web design solutions. With a team of experts under one roof.

Evince Development’s goal is provide you with all of the necessary design, development and marketing services you need to be successful online. We’ve worked on hundreds of eCommerce projects and know what it takes to get sales. Utilizing responsive web design, our eCommerce website are optimized for desktop, mobile and tablet viewing. With platform features such as unlimited products and categories, to a secure one- page checkout, we make online shopping easy for customers and easy to manage for website owners.

From selling a product or subscription, to taking payments for a service, our team can develop the custom eCommerce website perfect for your business. There is no limit to what your eCommerce site can achieve when providing your products or services online.