With business owners still paying an average of R30 000 for an e-commerce website in South Africa doing business online is unnecessarily expensive for many. Not only that, more money is then required to pay someone to update the site whenever new products are ready to showcase.

This is why a CMS such as WordPress is ideal for an e-commerce website. Firstly you can easily update the site yourself, saving time and money. Secondly, expensive development can be avoided as all the clever stuff has already been coded. There is no point in reinventing the wheel, and e-commerce technology is pretty standard these days.

After all, your website is far more likely to be user-friendly if it’s simple. And a user-friendly website is key when it comes to running a successful e-commerce operation.

South African E-Commerce Potential

When the 2010 World Cup was looming most businesses were harnessing the wonderful buzz of entrepreneurship in the country at the time. People were showing off their skills and producing locally made products en-mass. It was a good time to be South African.

Back then, I spent a year with Simplah, researching and testing out various forms of e-commerce software, including both free and paid services. Comparisons were made until I finally identified a collection of services that proved to be the best, most cost-effective solutions for business.

The outcome as always was Keep It Simple. For South Africans to start playing amongst the likes of Amazon and eBay, we need to start small and learn to evolve. That means making it easy for people to use our services and grow slowly as demand increases.

6 Things to Remember When Planning a Successful E-Commerce Website

• Always use trusted brand names when it comes to online payments such as Paypal, VCS or PayGate. South Africans are nervous submitting their credit card details online. EFT’s are the preferred method of payment. And why not? It’s a system that is easily set up if you know how.
• As far as payment gateways go, (the company you use to transfer money between you, your buyer and the bank), PayPal is still the most recognized both locally and internationally. It’s also the most preferred for credit card transactions. I put my trust in VCS personally as it is local and the support is good.
• ROI (Return On Investment) is relatively low on South African e-commerce websites but that number is currently growing exponentially as Web users increase. Those set to harness the power of online shopping now are sure to be laughing later.
• Like any website SEO is very important to ensure the right buyers see your products. Also, running a Google Adwords campaign appealing to your specific target market can make a huge difference to your business success.
• Have your system of product delivery worked out well before going live with your website. That way you are ready for your first batch of orders and the delivery process will be smooth and user friendly.
• Have a FAQ section on your website to save yourself that flood of common enquiries that inevitably come through. Tests show that customers find FAQ sections to be of value. They are also less likely to leave your site if they get stuck if there is a helpful FAQ section on the site.

There are many ways to deliver a good e-commerce website and even more ways to grow it into a success over time. One thing’s for sure: South Africa’s rapidly growing population of Internet users will undoubtedly contribute to the e-commerce industry over the next few years. And that means big opportunities for entrepreneurs everywhere.

For help developing a simple yet professional e-commerce website contact Simplah on
+27 (0)84 407 9398 or info@simplah.co.za

Why have a website? Well, it’s been said that in today’s market, if you do not have a website you are invisible.

Today, this is definitely true for most businesses, if not the guy selling shades at the traffic lights. The most important thing to consider, is that if your competitors have a website they are most definitely one up on you in terms of marketing themselves and attracting your potential customers their way.

These days, people are less interested in interruption marketing such as television and radio where messages are forced on them. There are now so many ways they can choose to tune these messages out, such as PVR systems. The best example however is the Internet. People can easily look for what they want and choose who to engage with, and who not too.

Buyers can easily search for products online, specifying exactly what it is they are looking for. They are even able to compare products from the comfort of their home. Customers have a choice whether to click on advertising that interests them and they have a choice whether to browse a website they visit or to bounce off it and go elsewhere.

In this sense you have a matter of seconds to catch a person’s attention and sell them on your services.

Have a Helpful Website

Even Facebook has to ask you if you would like to download an application before you use it or not…you have to give permission to receive emails from potential marketers. As a business you have to be more inviting than ever, which means using inbound marketing, such as search engine optimization (SEO) and social media to your advantage.

The question isn’t “why have a website?” The bottom line is that you had better have a website and it had better be better than your competitors. The question is how to have a website that uses inbound marketing to attract your buyers?

Contact Simplah now and find out how to have a website that works for your business.

Hands up if you have had a bad experience with companies claiming to provide SEO services?

If the answer is no, your probably luckier than most. I recently had the terror of dealing with a local company (whose name I will omit for the pure and simple reason that I don’t want any legal trouble) who charged my client over 7k a month to do what I do as part of a basic website setup.

And this is by no means the only example. I know many, many companies offering SEO solutions that deliver absolutely zero when it comes to a decent SEO service.

Now, I’m not an SEO expert. I dare say there are but a handful of real SEO experts out there, because doing it properly is a clever business. I also know enough about SEO to know that you can never ever know enough about SEO.

There are so many aspects involved in making your website search engine friendly it’s mind boggling.

I guess that’s why SEO services are considered valuable, which is the perfect opportunity for the snake oil salesmen that would take advantage…

How Smart are Search Engines?

There are hundreds of capable search engine out there, but in the interest of this article let’s talk about Google. Google is so intelligent, not only can it tell exactly what content is on your website, but also whether or not that content is any good. That means looking at everything from sentence structure to the quality of websites that are linking back to you. So the people who used to hire second-language copywriters to write reams of content at $2 an hour are really coming short now. Moreover, where back-links to your site could be bought for $9.99, today Google will actually mark you down now for irrelevant content, or even dropped you from its index completely.

SEOMoz’s How Google’s Panda Update Changed SEO Best Practices Forever is a great insight into how smart search engines are becoming.

What Can I Do to Improve My Search Engine Results?

There are a few simple things you can do to make a remarkable difference to your SEO. In fact it makes me wonder why there are still companies around shamelessly applying underhand tactics that can get their clients penalised or even banned from search engines altogether.

4 Key Points to Note When Looking At Your SEO:

1. Spend time on keyword/keyphrase research. Figure out what your target market is typing into the search engines when they are looking for your services. This is probably the most important step you can take. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
2. Use these keywords everywhere and experiment with updating them and looking for alternative options that may work better. Put them in your Web content, in your website metatags and consider running a Google Adwords campaign with them – still by far one of the best methods of getting exposure on search engines quickly.
3. Work on becoming an authority in your field and posting quality content – that way people will link to you and boost your website’s standing with search engines (which means better rankings). SEO is exponential, the more trusted you become, the more trusted you become.
4. Consider developing a social media presence. Again, be careful of hiring a company that claims to be able to do this for you. Only you can engage with your market authentically, which means only you can develop the relationship. Done properly, social media marketing drives even more qualified traffic to your website – and that’s all you need from your SEO.

This is a shortlist of things to look at when you’re planning an SEO strategy. If you want more detailed information, get in touch and I’ll help you with information more specific to your business.

There are many ways to make administering your online presence easier. But if there is one endeavour worth considering more than any other it’s running your website with a content management system (CMS).

In fact installing a good CMS could be the best decision you ever make for your Web marketing.

The days of having to employ someone to make even the simplest content changes to your website are thankfully over. With software like WordPress available, the power to manage your own website content is back in your hands.

The benefits to a CMS are many, but well worth noting are:

1. You can save a lot of money on web developer’s fees with a CMS. Where an hourly rate was once charged to make the tiniest of changes, you can now make those changes in your own time with no back and forth between outsourced parties and no extra cost to you.
2. Emergency changes can be addressed immediately and you don’t need to rely on someone else’s availability.
3. The tendency to avoid updating your website is not as much of a risk with a CMS, which means you’re more likely to maintain fresh content for your audience. This is good both for your readership and for boosting your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Nothing says, “I don’t care about my brand” like stale content.

Which CMS is Best?

There are many CMS systems available. The most popular in South Africa are still Drupel, Joomla and WordPress, but there is also a variety of .asp driven tools. Although there are pros and cons to all, my CMS of choice is WordPress. There are a million reasons for this but here are the main points:

1. WordPress is free open source software that is constantly being updated by a world of dedicated .php programmers. These enthusiasts work for nothing and all share a passion for keeping the software up to date, bug free and security tight. So all the work is done for you. For free.
2. It really is easy to use WordPress, with a nice friendly interface. Whatever system you choose you’ll need to make friends with your CMS so learning to use it needs to be a pleasant experience. There are numerous support forums available should you ever run into trouble and you can even install a plugin that provides your own personal and certified WordPress help facility.
3. Because it was originally developed as a blogging platform WordPress offers a ridiculously easy way to start blogging from your website, should you decide to enhance your online marketing with a blog.

Break free of your Webmaster!

Of course, there are technical aspects of your website you should leave to the experts. But when it comes to content changes, I say take the control back. After all, it’s the content you’ll probably want to make changes to most anyway.

So how do you transform your website into a lean mean CMS driven machine?

Contact me for an explanation of how Simplah helps you keep the look, feel and structure of your website exactly as it is, but built on a WordPress platform so you can make your own content updates.

SEO (search engine optimisation) is a popular term at the moment in Web marketing. Any expert will tell you it is a vital factor to consider when launching and maintaining a strong online presence with many Web design companies offering SEO as a service.

Beware though – SEO is a science and not all who claim to know its ins and outs can actually deliver the results you may be hoping for.

What do I need to know About SEO?

Firstly, understand the actual purpose of SEO. Optimising your website for search engines means making sure the right people find YOU when searching for the services YOU offer. It’s about ranking yourself higher than your competitors in the list of businesses you compete with. There are at least 20 things you can do to encourage this, but without a carefully considered strategy and the time to execute it you won’t grab your place on Google’s much sought after top ten.

Why Search Engine Marketing Works Better

The big fact of modern marketing is that you’re better off spending money on inbound marketing, rather than the more traditional (and out-dated) methods of interruption advertising such as TV and Print. With inbound marketing, like SEO, you place your business in the sight line of people who are already looking for your services and at the very moment they want to find you. A general TV or print ad may reach a million people at once, but for all the expense it’s likely that less than 1% of them will be looking for your products or services at the time.

Targeting an audience that is looking for you already makes good business sense, because it yields far better results.

Quick, Smart SEO Without Being Boring

10 years ago you could stuff a few keywords into your web copy and, hey presto, your search engine rankings would increase. But search engines like Google have got much, much smarter at defeating those who would try to trick them – using black hat tactics’ to falsely rank their sites above the rest.

The bottom line is that you need well-written, user-friendly and relevant content in order to really make an impression with search engines. Spend time doing keyword research and carefully working those keywords into your title tags, heading tags and body copy.

Boosting Your Search Marketing With Pay-Per-Click

As you refine your SEO efforts over time, you should consider other effective ways to spend your monthly marketing budget.
PPC (pay-per-click advertising) places your ads on search pages right next to the natural search results. It enables you to strategically target your customers right down to their location. You can even choose to match ONLY the exact phrase they are searching for, saving money on clicks from people who may not be looking for precisely what you offer. Cara Whitehouse’s article on PPC Advertising offers further insight into the power of inbound marketing.

For more on implementing a search marketing campaign, contact Simplah directly.

It can be difficult to know how to choose a good Web hosting service, or how much to pay to host your website every month.

Make Sure Your Website Keeps Working

The most important quality to look for in a service provider has to be good after-sales service.

Most web hosts can guarantee 99% uptime these days, but this means a potential 1% downtime that can make all the difference in making the right impression. If something goes wrong with your hosting, will you able to get on the phone and have any issues sorted out fast by competent technicians? If not, you could be in for a nightmare experience.

For this reason, quality of service from a reputable Web host is key.

Ask The Right Financial Questions

Then there are often hidden costs… Does your host charge you every time you want a new e-mail address? And how much do they charge if you need more disk space? To give you an idea, a WordPress website requires at least one database requiring up to 50 MB of disk space. Your domain name will also need to be renewed once a year – do you get charged extra for that?

Hosting Your Website With Simplah

Who says you shouldn’t keep all your eggs in one basket? Why not let Simplah take care of your web hosting too?

Your questions answered:

	Does Simplah take care of my domain registration or transfer?
	Can I have as many email addresses as I want and never have to pay for email addresses again?
	Is my package database compatible? Can I run a CMS?
	Do I have enough disk space and database facilities to run my website (up to 20 000 pages)?
	Do I have 24/7 support should anything go wrong with my hosting?

Contact Simplah Now For Secure Hosting At A Fair Price

Myths and Facts About Web Design

Myth: Aquiring a website is very expensive business.

Fact: It’s a fact; you get what you pay for. What is important to understand is that time is what costs the most money. And building specialised websites that require major development is what takes time. Using open source software saves loads of time and development costs to start. So does good planning and solid experience in what you are doing. Simplah specialises in creating simple, professional websites that work for you.

Myth: If I DO IT MYSELF I’ll save time and money.

Fact: There are many DIY tools available on the web to build your own website. These tools are designed for the person with no previous knowledge of design or development… by designers and developers. The best way to understand why going this route is a bad idea is to ask someone who has done it. You’ll no doubt find them in their 6th month of development, with no end in site. Come to think of it, have you ever been pleasantly surprised with a DIY solution? Simplah creates your website using the most flexible, user-friendly software available – called WordPress – so that you can easily upload your own content and learn how to run the site yourself AFTER all the technical stuff is taken care of.

Myth: My website must be original and flashy to catch attention.

Fact: Ever heard the term ‘terminally unique’? You don’t need bells and whistles to make an impression. A website’s function should be to convey your brand in a clear, people-friendly format. Keep it simple and you’re more likely to get your message across and convert your visitors into leads. When you are buying a product are you not more likely to go for the one that is easy to understand, easy to read and easy to use?
Contact Simplah for more info

Myth: I’m going to constantly need someone to update my website.

Fortunately this is no longer the case. Creating your website using what is called a Content Management System (CMS) enables you to update your own content. By using a simple interface very similar to most Word Applications you’ve likely used before, you can add text, images, links and even format it yourself. All you need is a little practice. There is also tons of support available online should you ever get stuck. I also recommend converting your current website to a CMS for this exact reason. To find out how Simplah uses WordPress to make business websites easier click here.

Simply Get Going!

A 3-page website will cost you only R1990.00. That’s a home page, a contact page and your choice of another page.
Then easily upload new content yourself. Simple.

 The KICKSTART PACKAGE includes:

• - Home and Contact page, your choice of one other page eg. Services, About Us.
• - Smart, eye-catching design representing your brand
• - Secure contact form directing enquiries to your inbox
• - Search engine optimised design
• - Add unlimited pages yourself or let us do it for you (contact simplah for a quote)

Contact Simplah now to order your new website!

Looking for something a bit more refined to your business needs? Contact Simplah here.