Introducing Staff Outsourcing, Experts in eCommerce

Do you operate an online-based business and find you've hit a plateau? Maybe you could use help with getting your business tasks done in order to free you up so that you have more time to expand or work on the projects that most interest you?

Many small business owners can't afford to hire permanent employees and/or don't have enough work to keep another employee busy all of the time. Staff Outsourcing is a company that specializes in eCommerce outsourcing. Say you're running an Amazon, eBay, or Etsy business (or maybe--like a lot of independent entrepreneurs I know--you're running all three!). You might need help with tasks such as data entry. Staff Outsourcing offers services for indie businesspeople like you so that you can get more things done and increase the scope/reach of your business.

One of the most popular services for online sellers is product entry outsourcing. This means that Staff Outsourcing will create listings for you on sites like eBay. As you know, it can be very time consuming to enter all the necessary data for your listings--and with recent changes in the eBay spring seller update, item specifics are becoming more and more important to your listings. You can't just put up a couple of photos and call it good; you need to input a lot of details to make your listings sell.

Staff Outsourcing offers other services, too, such as call center support and IT outsourcing. Headquartered in the Philippines and with a US office in Missouri, the company has assembled a group of tech savvy, customer service oriented employees and managers to help small businesses all over the world.

Meet Catalin of Ecommerce Platforms, an Ecommerce Review Site

Ecommerce Platforms is an unbiased review site that shows the good, great, bad, and ugly of online store building software. They strive to provide readers with easy to read (and sometimes fun) and objective reviews that will help people choose which ecommerce platform is right for their individual needs. They invite readers to follow them on Twitter, comment, question, contact, and ENGAGE!

Check out the Ecommerce Platforms comparison chart to look at the different ecommerce platforms and their features.

1. Why did you decide to launch a website with a focus on reviewing ecommerce platforms?

A friend of mine asked for help finding the best ecommerce platform for his new business venture. However, after numerous days spent Googling the right platform, I realized that the information out there about ecommerce platforms really isn't all that good. This was when I decided to create Ecommerce Platforms, because I wanted other people to be able to find comparisons between the different platforms as well as reviews and tutorials.

2. When it comes to choosing an ecommerce platform, how important of a factor is the size of your business? In other words, do smaller businesses have different needs than medium or large businesses?

Yes, smaller companies might not need some of the features offered by the bigger, more expensive platforms. Therefore, smaller companies might consider signing up with a more niche-driven ecommerce platform. While I would recommend that large businesses sign up with companies such as Shopify or Bigcommerce, I would recommend that smaller companies consider a platform such as Big Cartel as they cater directly to smaller companies. This article covers some of these differences.

3. For you personally, what separates a "good" ecommerce platform from a "great" one?

The first word that comes to mind when I think about a great platform is "templates." Really, the one thing that often sets ecommerce platforms apart is the templates they offer. While some companies offer very basic templates, others go the extra mile to offer amazing templates. Secondly, it is very important to look at what kinds of add-ons the site offers, as many sites will offer certain add-ons and plug-ins for free, while other sites might charge for the same features.

4. What are some other topics you cover on your site?

While we do focus on reviewing the different ecommerce platforms, we also spend a lot of time looking for the best plug-ins for the different store sites. Furthermore, we are spending more time now looking at great WordPress plug-ins that can be used to boost sales. We are also working on more tips and tutorials for those who are just getting started in the ecommerce industry.

5. If you were to meet someone who is just getting started with selling products or services online, what would your advice be?

Don't give up! It will be a long process, but in the end it will be a very rewarding process. Secondly, do your research: in other words, do not jump the gun and sign up for the first and cheapest platform you can find. In the end it will come back to haunt you. Once you have completed your store, make sure you market it, everywhere you can possibly think of.

Thanks, Catalin!

Meet Mohammed Alami, SEO and E-Marketing Consultant, and E-Commerce Specialist

Mohammed Alami is a SEO strategist and e-marketing consultant based in Montreal. He is very experienced in SEM (search engine marketing) as well as SMO / SMM (social media optimization and marketing), and he holds a master's in e-commerce. He is just launching a new website, Mozalami.

1. How did you first become interested in e-marketing and SEO?

After launching TEXILOG in Morocco in 2004, I began specializing in web marketing in 2007. Of course I began with the creation of websites, web design, and flash animation, etc. I did a variety of work within the web agency that I had started. But I quickly realized that the return on investment (ROI) was the main KPI (key performance indicator) for measuring the success of businesses' internet projects. So I got interested in SEO, which is the safest way to drive traffic. It has a major advantage compared to traditional marketing techniques: its price. It's not cheap, but it's definitely affordable!

2. What can readers expect to find on your new site, Mozalami?

The site is dedicated to SEO and internet marketing services, and includes web marketing advice and strategies for e-commerce. Social networks are no exception as I do some consultancy in this area, too.

At the same time, Mozalami is my new blog. The name is the contraction of "MOZ" (for marketing optimization) and my name "Alami." So it will be also my SEO journal. Readers can subscribe to my feed and follow me on social networks to get the latest news, information, and analysis of search engine optimization strategies and tactics that drive results.

3. I feel like SEO is a bit of a moving target. What do you think? Is SEO always changing, and if so, how can business owners and/or webmasters keep up with the best practices in the industry?

This question is really interesting. Indeed, a few years ago, the EMD (exact match domain) and PMD (partial match domain) were the way to go ahead and create a big SEO signal to Google via keywords contained in the domain name. So as an example, years ago I launched two websites: Referencement-site-montreal.com which has long been positioned as first on the keyword "Montreal SEO" and Marketing-internet-montreal.com which was first on the keyword "Internet Marketing Montreal" (in French). Now, however, I'm including the content of both sites under the new domain Mozalami.com to avoid this kind of hack.

The only constant in SEO is change. Since we know that, everyone in this field should keep reading blogs and articles from industry to stay up to date. That's why Mozalami can be great resource for beginners and even advanced search strategists looking for the basis of SEO art and science.

4. What is the importance of positioning your business locally when it comes to SEO?

I'm also an expert in local SEO, having participated in bundling the yellow pages Canada's local product for SMBs. So I know that it's crucial that Mozalami shows prominently in search results when search intent is local like "SEO Montreal." My job is to conduct strategies for my clients but also to make sure best practices are applied to my own website. SEO unfortunately has no entry barrier, and anyone can claim to be a SEO guru or expert, whatever the title they choose. But there's a great way to avoid inexperienced SEO service providers: just ask for references and results against KPIs.

5. When it comes to getting a website ranked highly in the search engines, do you feel that there are particular concerns that are especially relevant to business owners and webmasters in Canada?

In Canada we face two challenges: our websites are bilingual, and this both dilutes PageRank and makes positioning on double sets of keywords harder. And in the meantime we're competing with French websites in Google Canada French search results. It's unfair as other countries do not have this problem to solve. However, using best practices and especially by applying semantic markup to website pages, we're able to explain to search engines what the website is about and what's the target, and then we have better results in SERPs. Semantic Web (3.0) is one of my passions: expect in 2015 to see a huge surge of these techniques all around the web.

Thanks, Mohammed!

Introducing Retail Arbitrage by Josh Smith

I think "arbitrage" has become one of those words that gets bounced around a lot, but we might not all know just what it means. It's actually a term taken from finance, and it means, "the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same securities, commodities, or foreign exchange in different markets to profit from unequal prices" (dictionary.com). In practical terms, people are using this word a lot to talk about how you can buy things to resell online for a profit. And who doesn't want to do that?

Josh Smith has written an ebook called Retail Arbitrage, and his goal is give readers ideas about useful and profitable methods of finding items to buy and sell. The book is meant as a starting point; ultimately, people who are successful are those who do research, try new ideas, and work to build a strong customer base.

You might think that retail arbitrage starts and ends with eBay and Amazon, but as Josh discusses in his book, true success can come from building a solid client list and selling to customers directly through your own e-commerce store. But the cool part (in my opinion!) is that you can start selling right now, without setting up your own site, and Josh's book will give you tips about how to write successful listings on established marketplaces like eBay. The truth is that you just can't argue with the market share held by big sites like eBay and Amazon, so why not learn how they work from someone who has been there and done that when it comes to selling a variety of products online?

There's a lot of information about retail arbitrage out there, and Josh has put it together into a convenient package. How's that for one-stop shopping?

The Wedding Gift Registry for Magento

The more I learn about e-commerce, the more I learn about different tools that companies use online to connect with their customers. Once an entrepreneur chooses an e-commerce platform for selling his or her products online, there are a variety of specific extensions available for the platform which then allow the entrepreneur to further modify their e-commerce tools to meet the particular needs of his or her business.

Case in point, here's a very clever and useful extension, the Magento wedding registry. If you have an online storefront, wouldn't you like to allow customers to set up wedding registries on your site, thus opening the door to customers who will then buy items on the wish list of the bride- and groom-to-be?

If you're using a Magento platform for your online store, you can add this unique extension to create a user-friendly wedding registry for your customers. After the happy couple creates their registry, they can easily send invitations to their family and friends, informing them of the gift registry. The registry is also easy to share via Facebook and Twitter.

The wedding gift registry for Magento was created by Webtex Software, a web development firm founded in 2009. Learn more about this company by checking out their website, at http://www.webtexsoftware.com.

Meet Nasir Shakouri of Encore Payments

Nasir Shakouri is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Encore Payments. With a background in finance combined with over 10 years in the merchant acquiring industry, Nasir Shakouri started Encore Payments to focus on customer satisfaction and fraud prevention.

1. When did you decide to start Encore Payments?

I decided to launch Encore in May 2012.

2. What are some of the benefits of Encore Payments for your merchants and agents?

The payment processing industry is quite competitive. Every processor or merchant acquirer will tell you that they can provide high quality and reliable service, that they offer the best technological capability, and that they are the lowest cost provider.

Those are all key points that cannot be ignored and we at Encore continuously strive to achieve and improve on them. However, we also feel that the only way our staff could provide that type of premier service is through proper training. All Encore employees are required to complete a rigorous training program before we allow them to interact with our agents or our merchants. Our methodology is that in order to properly service our customers (from our call center), the customer service representatives need to interact (face to face) with our merchants. The best way to have proper interaction with a merchant or an agent is to become one. In other words, as part of our training process, we send our customer service representatives out in the field, with supervision, so that the representatives learn how to properly interact with a merchant, on site. We feel that this process is a integral part of providing the type of premier service that we are striving to achieve at Encore, because it allows our representatives to see first-hand how much work and effort an agent exerts in order to sign a single merchant account. From a merchant's standpoint, the representatives also learn first-hand the key points that a merchant expects from its payment processing provider.

3. Could you give some examples of the kinds of businesses that are using your product?

Any business that accepts credit or debit cards as a form of accepting payments is a prospective customer of ours. From Joe's Coffee Shop that may have 5 employees, to a more established merchant with hundreds or even thousands of employees. There is no limit.

4. What distinguishes your company from other options for merchants?

At Encore, our philosophy is to make our merchants feel that they are forming a partnership with us. Not only do we want to assist them in accepting credit cards as a form of payment, but with our extensive suite of products, we can assist our merchants with their business growth strategies. Whether a merchant needs a loan for working capital expansion, online marketing services (SEO) in order to increase traffic to their store(s), designing a website or any other graphic design work, discounted office supplies, etc, our suite of products assure that our merchants do not need to turn elsewhere for any of their business needs.

5. As an entrepreneur yourself and someone with a strong background in finance, what recommendations do you have for people who want to expand their businesses and see them become more profitable?

In my opinion, the key point is finding the balance between a disciplined financial approach and understanding the needs and trends in the industry (the intangibles). Some organizations attempt to run their companies while only considering the outputs of their Financial Models, and they tend to forget the many other intangibles that need to be considered when evaluating an opportunity. It is critical that the decision makers at an organization understand the impact of their decisions on their assets, such as their agents, their merchants and just as important, their employees. This does not mean that financial decisions should be made without the proper analysis and proper "stress tests" that are required when analyzing a financial model, however, that financial emphasis and discipline needs to be balanced with the other intangible factors that exist in any business, especially in ours. Thanks, Nasir!

An Introduction to AbanteCart

AbanteCart is a free open source shopping cart or eCommerce platform for small to medium size business. It is designed, built, and supported by experienced enthusiasts who are passionate about their work and contribution to the rapidly evolving eCommerce industry. AbanteCart is powered with a robust and expandable core platform, state of the art feature set, and efficient user interface.

The interview below is with Kim Brenner, Marketing Assistant with AbanteCart.

1. What makes AbanteCart a unique tool for people who manage eCommerce websites?

AbanteCart is a shopping cart or ecommerce platform for small to medium size business. Among many features included in the application, below are the main key advantages over other applications that you need to know.

- It is free with free support
This is the best part. AbanteCart is free and anyone can enjoy using it. Because AbanteCart is supported by a community, you also get free support on the forum as well as the opportunity to help others.

- Easy to start and fun to use
With AbanteCart anyone can start selling products or services online. No special experience or training needed. If you know how to browse the web or you know how to use Google or Facebook, you can manage selling products online with Abentecart. For a business owner or ecommerce manager, AbanteCart is fun to use with many tools available in the control panel.

- Great flexibility and expandability
AbanteCart is a versatile application, meaning it can be set to do anything that you need to have a successful online business. With our constantly growing number of extensions, your shopping cart can progress beyond any limits.

- Fast and secure
AbanteCart is well-structured to use low resources and be fast running with security enabled to keep your site protected. The application is constantly monitored for performance and security.

- No limits
Owning and operating AbanteCart will not set any restrictions on size of your product inventory, number of customers, traffic limits, or any other limitations. You can customize, change the code, and expand your eCommerce as you desire. Feel free to grow your online presence.

2. Why is AbanteCart available for free?

AbanteCart is free because it is open source, and it is supported by the community, and anyone can contribute.

3. How does your platform help sellers better utilize SEO?

AbanteCart is SEO enabled with all best practices. Users have flexible control over content.

4. Do webmasters need to know anything beyond basic FTP uploading to be able to use AbanteCart?

No special knowledge needed. In AbanteCart you do not even need to know FTP. All extensions and managing can be done in admin.

5. What's your best advice to merchants who are looking to sell products on their own websites?

Do research and homework, and select a platform that can cover most of what you need to do with your business. Do not focus on all features, only what you need for your business. Focus on business and not software.

Thanks, Kim!