1) Brand building as the process of marketing your business/product – attempting to instill a recognizable brand into the market. If you're successful, people will remember your brand and return to your online retail store. Brand building is an essential component of the online retail business. Why? Search engine results aren't guaranteed forever – you'll need a recognizable brand.



2) Give yourself an attitude check. How is your attitude toward your online retail business? How is your attitude toward your customers? Don't underestimate the importance of a good positive attitude. A negative attitude will show in the results of your business just as a positive attitude will show in your online retail success.

3) Link building is an essential Search Engine Optimization (SEO) process requiring you to contact webmasters of various sites across the internet. Your goal should be to let others - maintaining websites in a similar industry as yours – know about your online retail business. More links into your website usually means better search engine results. Don't try to get links from websites with no similarity to yours – it might be a waste of time.

4) Link bait – another essential link building strategy – is the process of having content on your website that's so wonderful, useful and compelling that webmasters of other websites will automatically want to add a link to your website. Search the internet for the term “link bait” and you'll find a number of helpful ideas.

5) PageRank in its simplest form is a way Google measures the inbound links to your online retail store. Higher PageRank will usually result in higher website rankings. However, don't let PageRank drive your SEO strategies – but you should know what it is and how to maximize it.

6) Google Adwords are those little advertisements you see (on the right of the screen) when you perform a search query on Google. It's a good idea to use them as a mix in your online retail strategy. However, make sure you keep the keywords highly specific to the products you offer in your online store, test various keywords with a small budget and don't use broad keywords.

7) Fast shipping. Everyone who shops in an online retail store wants their purchase delivered the day before it's purchased. Ship products to customers quickly and they'll appreciate it. Personally, I've had best results with regular 2 to 3 day mail. However, the products I ship are small and easy to package. You should learn what works best for you but make sure you ship quickly.

8) Your product descriptions and other writing in your online retail store should be of high quality and easily readable. No misspelled words, bad grammar, etc. Anything short of high quality writing will result in lost sales.

9) Learn to use Digg.com. Digg is a social website where people submit news, stories, etc. for others to look at and comment on. When you see a news story or write an article relevant to your online store – submit it to Digg. This is a good way of spreading the word about your online retail business.

10) Do you have a good logo? If not, pay the price to have one made professionally. A good logo can make or break the professional appearance of your online retail business. Also, a quality logo goes hand in hand with brand building. You'll want people to recognize your logo so pay for a good one.

To Be Continued….

E Lawrence Welch