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Methods to Promote an E-Commerce System

Search Engines:

Search engines are used to seek out websites via entering key words into a search bar, if we use google as an example, whatever is searched two advertised websites appear at the top of the page. These sites have paid google in order to be the top two results which increases traffic onto their website. Search engines use ‘spiders’, a spider is a program that locates websites in an order of how relevant they are, in relation to certain key words entered by the user. This is why it is important to make sure as a website you include meta tags which provide information about a page like how often it is updated, what is on the page and which key words represent a page.

Pop-ups and Banners:

These are two other forms of promotion for an e-commerce system. Pop-ups are windows which appear when clicking on a link or entering a site, but these aren't very effective as they have been over used and users tend to ignore them as they are usually irrelevant. Banners are pictures normally placed on the top or on the side of the main focus of a website, these pictures are linked to an advertisers page. 

Forums and Q+A:

Forums and Q+A's are online discussions where by people ask for answers or generally talk. These can be a powerful tool in promoting an e-commerce system because you can search for relevant pages and if suitable recommend your services. These sites are used regularly as they are promoted on search engines after keywords from the question are searched. 

Direct Marketing:

This is a technique used to boost sales where advertisers approach potential new customers directly via brochures, catalogues, leaflets, telephone sales and coupons. This method means wasting less time and money by targeting only potential customers and not a vast amount of people who wouldn't be interested in the product/service anyway. Direct Marketing also builds strong relationships with customers that are interested in the product/service, but there are some people who will be contacted who don't wish to be, this includes people changing their address the marketing company using the wrong email, this could give a bad impression of the e-commerce business and would prevent some potential customers from using them.

Spam:

Spam refers to mail that is unwanted by the user and is normally junk mail. This can be a useful method to attract potential customers from a customer list, however, it is very rare for users to check their spam folder when browsing through emails, and even if they were to browse through them it is more rare that they would read every single one if any. I would not recommend using this method as it would be wasted labour and you would be better off spending time using other, more useful methods.

User Interfaces:

Vital when making an e-commerce system, the user interface needs to be simple and easy to use, yet attractive and entice potential customers. This can be achieved by using a simple interface, as people will be more inclined to use it if they know it won't take long or be hard to operate. On the contrary, if the interface is hard to use, you risk losing customers who aren't as computer savvy as others, and would feel alienated.

Site Name:

The name of the site you are using to sell your product/service is important because it needs to be recognisable to the clientele and need to also attract potential customers who haven't used your site before. It also needs to be easy to remember so potential customers can recommend them to friends and give them the correct address.

Customer Loyalty:

Some customers may not be trusting of e-commerce systems because they are giving away details to an unknown entity. This can be avoided by enabling payment through PayPal, or allowing banks to check the websites legitimacy, an example of this would be Lloyds' Click Safe, which checks for the customer before money leaves their account.