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Damien our director just came back from the BigCommerce Partner Summit in Sydney where he learned more about the future of the ecommerce software.

Meeting the BigCommerce Team from Sydney, Australia and Austin, Texas.

One of the most worthwhile takeaways from the day was meeting the team at BigCommerce. Such friendly, passionate and knowledgeable people. Their enthusiasm for the company is infectious.

With thanks to Daniel Fertig, Kamila Chandler, Steve Roberts, Lynn Torbert, Brian Adams, Travis Balinas, Nate Stewart and the rest of the BigCommerce team for hosting the event.

“Off to the BigCommerce Partner Summit for a day of training and product updates “

“It was wonderful to meet with the BigCommerce team. Your help and support dedicated to your partners is unsurpassed and we are absolutely delighted to be involved with the BigCommerce family.

Back in 2010 we were looking for a robust, easy-to-use and scalable SaaS ecommerce platform. Now, 8 years later we couldn’t be happier and will continue to recommend BigCommerce to our clients. We’ve tried all ecommerce platforms. Simply put, BigCommerce cannot be matched for out-of-the-box functionality and price. The stability and scalability of the platform allows our customers to grow their business without worrying about software updates or server downtime, and we can focus on what we do best – designing and developing their websites. It’s a win for all involved.

The BigCommerce team put on a truly informative day which has inspired and excited us about the future for many years to come.”

– Damien Viero
Director of Above & Beyond.

BigCommce for WordPress Plugin & Headless Ecommerce

An exciting announcement was the beta launch of the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin. This will allow users with content rich WordPress websites to continue to publish using WordPress but also integrate a shopping cart powered by BigCommerce directly into their WordPress site. You can scale your business with a WordPress front-end site but use BigCommerce to handle all of the products, sales and order fulfillment – which will free up server resources. You will also be able to run multiple sites that feed back into a single unified BigCommerce control panel. It’s really exciting stuff!

Watch the teaser video below:

 

New API developments for Cart, Checkout and Payments

BigCommerce showed us they have been working very hard on improving their API’s (Application Programming Interfaces). With special dedication to their cart, checkout and payment API’s supported by Stencil themes. These updated API’s allow developers to fully customise the checkout experience in BigCommerce and create on the fly shipping rates for custom couriers and payment gateways. Providing the ability for developers to have much more control over these key areas and build out more robust solutions for their customers.

 

BigCommerce Product Updates & Future Roadmap

One of the main reasons we love using BigCommerce is it’s constantly evolving with new features.

Just in the past 6 months an array of features have been added:
* Improved Refund Capabilities
* Akamai Image Optimisations
* Price Lists
* Ebay Product Import
* Google AMP Support
* Cornerstone Stencil Theme speed optimisations
* Improved Control Panel Search
* Credit Card Vaulting for fast repeat purchases
* International Launch of Instagram Shopping

That’s only a few of the key updates and we can go on and on with more.
We were also shown some of the product updates on the horizon over the next few years that BigCommerce has planned for it’s merchants. Some of these are top-secret for now but we can assure you we are very excited! They are making improvements in all areas for merchants and also developers.

Overall it was a very worthwhile day and we learnt a lot. We will definitely be attending every Partner Summit from here on out.

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However, launching an online product business is by no means easy. An ecommerce store is more than just a website – it’s a business with many components, and it pays to thoroughly hash out your plan beforehand.

Here are ten steps you need to take in your planning phase in order to give your store the best chance of success.

1. Niche It Down – Who is your Ideal Customer?

Before diving into the nuts and bolts, you need to precisely identify who your ideal customer is. Ask yourself this crucial question: who is the person that is actually going to buy from you?  The clearer the picture you can get in your head of a representative target customer, the better everything else will flow – including product selection, marketing, and branding.

Try to really get inside the head of your ideal prospect. What are their main problems and desires?  What kind of personality do they have? Are they frugal, or do they spend big? Your answers to these questions will inform many of the other strategic decisions you make later on.

2. What’s Your USP?

Once you know precisely who you’re selling to, you need to identify your Unique Selling Proposition.  This is what makes you different from the competition, but it’s also what makes you better.  Why should people choose to buy from you instead of other stores selling similar items?

Think in terms of value for the customer.  A nice store design is not a USP, whereas superior customer service, custom product designs or being an authority in your industry could be.

3. Decide on a Business Structure

Before you begin trading, you need to decide how to legally define your business. Whether you opt to do business as a Sole Trader, a Partnership or a Company, your choice will depend on your own particular financial situation. If you’re unsure, a word with your accountant might be your best bet here.

4. Get Your Domain Name!

Choosing your domain name can be tricky, since so many catchy names and effective business phrases have been snapped up already. Do your best to come up with a short phrase that represents your brand: what you want your store to “be about”. It’s difficult, so you might have to compromise.

Generally, .com or .com.au are seen as the most professional domain endings, whereas .org, .biz and .info should be avoided.

5. Choose Your Store Platform

There are several great platform choices for your online store. BigCommerce is a popular one, and often suits the needs of many first-time store owners, combining flexibility and functionality with a delightfully simple user interface.

If you need more complex functionality, there are other options out there also. Carefully check out the features of the stores you’re interested in, and choose the one that best fits what you want your website to be able to do.

6. Decide On Payment Methods

What types of payment will you accept? This will also depend on the store platform you’ve chosen. Generally, most customers expect to be able to pay directly by Visa or Mastercard as well as Paypal, so factor that in when choosing your merchant account.

7. Formulate a Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve built your site, you clearly need to attract the visitors who are interested in what you’re selling. This is internet marketing, and it’s a mammoth, complex field.

Start with a basic plan for how you’re going to get in front of your target customers and entice them to click through to your store. You’ll probably want to be up and running as soon as possible, which will entail the use of a Pay-Per-Click advertising strategy, at least at the start.  As you develop content and a web presence, Search Engine Optimisation methods become worthwhile and they’ll yield more organic visitors from Google and other engines over time.

There are plenty of agencies and consultants who are willing to take charge of your online marketing for you – so if you’re new to the field, it could be a wise move.

8. What Look and Feel Do You Want?

It pays to put some forethought into the ambience you want to create with your store design.

This links back to the first point about identifying your target customer.  What’s going to make them feel like they’re in the right place? A handy question to ask yourself is “If this was a physical shop, what atmosphere would I want inside?” The answer to that question should inform colour and design choices on your website.

9. Choose Shipping Options And Charges

Where will you ship to, and what will you charge? Will you ship internationally?  It might be a good idea if there will be high demand for your product abroad. You may need to run the numbers on product profit margins here, and see what you’re able to offer your customers.

10. Choose an Analytics Platform – And Decide What To Measure

Finally, once your store is making sales, you’ll want to be able to take a look at the numbers and identify things to improve on. A good web analytics tool is your best friend here – these pieces of software let you pinpoint trends in user behaviour on your site and see whether the numbers are moving in the right direction.

Google Analytics is usually a solid choice, but there are other options.  The main thing is to educate yourself about web analytics – the more you can extract actionable insights from your online store’s data, the more you can test, tweak and optimise things to generate high revenues and happy customers.

Author Info:

Marcus Falley is a representative of Study Now, Australia’s biggest directory of online courses and distance education courses. Courses are available in a range of industries including digital marketing courses.

Photo Source: Flickr, Creative Commons

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Having a website is less costly than other competing forms of advertising. Any business man, or woman, who spends money on advertising, will agree that traditional forms of advertising are almost always very expensive. The more effective such advertising proves to be, the more it costs. Yellow Pages ads, billboard advertising and even magazine and newspaper ads can be ruinously expensive and they still do not guarantee the amounts of traffic and customers that any business needs to survive. With a web site, the costs are limited to a couple hundred dollars of upfront expenses to have a professional and effective website designed and then search engine optimized for maximum search engine placement results. The monthly costs for having web hosting are negligible, typically just a few dollars a month. Contrast this with thousands of dollars in upfront costs for Yellow Pages ads or billboards, and with many hundreds of dollars for even a single run of advertising in a magazine or a newspaper.

Having an entity who works literally twenty four hours a day and seven days a week should be one of the main reasons for everyone to have their own website. The importance of this cannot be overestimated and is the reason why we mention it twice. If someone told a business man or woman that there was a means of garnering sales even while the business was closed and when the owner was sleeping or on vacation, then most people would agree that such a business person would be a fool not to be interested in it. A website is exactly this— an entity working on the business owner’s behalf. It does not simply work 24/7, but also 365 days a year. This is an often forgotten selling point in the argument of having effective web sites; they do not take off for Christmas or two weeks’ vacation.

A third important reason as to why every enterprise today must have an effective website lies in the fact that it is the first impression of a business which potential clients will notice and remember. A business person is always interested in ways to build good first impressions of his or her brand and business name. One of the best ways in accomplishing with this is of course in presenting potential and returning customers with an attractive, informative, and generally helpful website. More than just a corporate logo and a company motto, a website offers a wealth of information about the business person’s company, history, lines of business, and products or services which are featured, along with helpful functions like price lists, descriptions, and pictures. Perhaps most importantly, the website presents a visitor with the opportunity to order right away.

The importance for any serious business to possess an effective website these days should not be overlooked and neglected. In case the reasons mentioned above were not enough to convince the reader of how important it is to maintain such a virtual presence on the Internet, then perhaps this little tidbit of information will. Consider that for any business, whether or not the individual has a website up, he or she can be sure that his or her competition most assuredly will have one.

Written by Web Hosting Search

Above&Beyond has been awarded and recommended as a top rated web design and development company by WebHostingSearch

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WITH a flair for art and a love of computers, website design was the obvious career choice for Damien Viero.

Damien grew up in Ayr and recalls his sense of rural isolation played a big part in shaping his future success as a webmaster.

Ironically, taking refuge in cyberspace as a teenager broadened his horizons big time. Now Damien enjoys living in Townsville but regularly deals with international clients, without ever leaving home.

“Above&Beyond Web Specialists  – abpages.com – is a professional web design and e-commerce development business located in sunny North Queensland but we meet and work with selective clients from all over Australia and the globe,” Damien said.

Indeed I tracked Damien down through the web where his business details were the signature at the foot of the page – a modern and effective way of marketing in the new millennium.

“We specialise in web site design, e-commerce, domain name registration, web hosting, search engine marketing, flash multimedia and custom web applications development,” he explained.

That’s how the company’s details got to be advertised on the bottom of a website page and that's how the business continues to grow with almost no deliberate marketing efforts.

But like many, Damien began his career began doing what he loved most. Earning money was secondary.

“I remember one school holidays after grade 10 I was bored and decided to make better use of my time.

“I didn’t know a lot about web design but I knew it combined both art and computers so I thought I’d give it a go. I researched what programs to use and went out and purchased a book on `Flash and Dreamweaver and began reading. Before I knew it I had made my first website,” he said.

“Once my first website was built, I showed it to one of my friends and he showed it to his older brother who happened to own a computer shop. I think I received $350 for my first web site and I was very pleased.”

Damien went on to complete a Bachelors degree in Information Technology at JCU and is currently working towards completing an MBA.

“However, all of my web design skills have been self-taught from books, online web design forums and through eight years experience building close to 100 different projects.

“I’ve been running my own business from such a young age, I’ve never really had the spare time to seek other jobs/experience in other firms.”

Damien advises others aspiring to enter the field to get familiar with some key programs, among them Adobe Flash, Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

“Also if you wish to cater for dynamic web sites like Shopping Carts, Content Management Systems, Mailing Lists, Member areas etc, you definitely need sound knowledge in a programming language like PHP, AJAX, ASP and also database design.”

These skills can be learned in any university IT degree but he said just as important were good communication skills and the ability to provide prompt and friendly service.

One of the perks of the industry is the ability to work from anywhere in the world, so long as there's internet access and the ability to work any hours you choose.

But it is a creative industry too, so challenges can be overcoming perfectionism and creative block.

“I guess after having built nearly 100 sites, it gets harder and harder trying to think of the new ideas, but each time when you think you’ve got some kind of writer's block another idea pops up and you create something wonderful again.

“It always helps when the client knows exactly what they want, because you can just go off and create it,” he said.

Damien has a home office but most of his client contact is via the internet and email.

His advice to aspiring webmasters?

“Many people can create a web site. You need to find something that sets you apart from the pack and hope that people can see that. Creativity is the key.”

FRANCINE PULLMAN – Townsville Bulletin

via Townsville webmaster’s mission | Townsville Bulletin CareerOne.

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The award is a fantastic recognition of the hard work and dedication of Damien Viero, Managing Director of Above&Beyond Web Design and Marisa’s I.T. Team at the Casino.

“Constructing a website for a complex such as ours was not a simple task. Every department was asked to submit information and images for their section on the website. Damien, working in collaboration with the I.T and Marketing Departments worked at piecing the information and images together into a visually stimulating and informative website.

Our new look website was launched in February this year and continues to receive more unique visits every month. The website is updated regularly with new accommodation specials, entertainment news, menus, employment opportunities and much more.” – A spokesperson from the Casino commented.

If you have not explored our award winning site yet, be sure to check it out.

Congratulations to Damien Viero from Above&Beyond for making our website THE BEST!

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Basically, a .com.au domain name identifies you as an Australian business. This has a number of advantages if you are targeting Australian Internet users.

Probably the most important effect a .com.au domain has is that some search engines filter their results according to where the searcher lives. For example, if you conduct a search on Google, it is clever enough to work out where you are. And when it knows that you live in Australia, it will often make the assumption that you will be more interested in Australian websites, and so it may place Australian websites higher up the search results than international ones.

This isn’t always the case, but over time you will find that depending on your product, .com.au domains may rank higher in Australia than international domain names. This is important if your market is solely in Australia.

What if your market is global? Then a .com may be more appropriate for you. For example, our domain name is a .com domain, because we can and do provide our services worldwide, even though we are an Australian business based in Australia. We want to be recognised as a global Internet business and so we chose the .com domain.

Having said that, there is no reason why you can’t have both. It is certainly possible to purchase both the .com and the .com.au versions of your domain name and have them both point to the same website. Don’t go overboard though. If you purchase too many domain names and have them all providing the same content, this can be seen by many search engines as “spamming”, and could possibly penalise you as a result.

What about the price difference? There used to be a very big price difference between .com. and .com.au domain names, but in recent years the .com.au domains have dropped significantly in price, so that the difference is no longer so great. Using our prices as an example, a .com domain will cost you $24.95 per year. A .com.au domain will cost you $34.50 per year (.com.au domains can only be purchased for 2 year periods, so the cost will actually be $69 for 2 years, plus GST).

So the price is no longer a huge issue, and if you are trading in Australia it makes sense to get the .com.au domain name so that you are recognised as an Australian business and get the benefits of it within Australia’s search engine market.

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