Web Extra - More Website Upgrade Tips

Web extra from Is It Time for a Website Upgrade?
Blogs.  No doubt you’ve heard about blogs. They are journal-like entries on your website that provide news or commentary on a particular subject. Typically they’re displayed in a reverse chronological order. They can combine text, images, audio and video as well as links to other blogs and webpages.
Many business blogs are more personal and revealing than a company newsletter, helping visitor to relate to the human side of the business. They encourage a dialog by allowing visitors to post comments. But before you begin a blog on your website, you need to do some soul-searching.  Can you write well, do you have enough to say, and are you going to post entries on a consistent, regular basis? If the answer is no to any of these, skip the blog.  A poorly done blog will hurt, not help, your company’s credibility.
Recommended Resources: Blogger.com  is an easy-to-use free tool. TypePad.com has a variety of packages with greater design skills that are popular among bloggers. Costs start at $4.95 a month and go up.

E-Commerce. For some businesses, selling or accepting payment online is valuable to both the firm and the buyer. It automates the invoicing and collects payment up front; clients love the ease of it.  A good shopping cart will allow you to upsell customers, make recommendations, offer coupons, and send receipts and thank you’s.
Recommended Resources: For a robust, full featured e-commerce solution, 1shopping Cart (www.1shoppingcart.com) is a great option. At a more elementary level, PayPal has much to recommend it. It is easy to use, a recognized brand, has low costs, and limited features [which means no ongoing costs] It can be used to take payment or used as a simple shopping cart (www.paypal.com). Google Checkout (www.google.com) allows the same features; note that Google is waiving processing fees through the end of 2007 while it builds its business.
Real Time Inventory. For businesses engaged in selling directly through their website, real-time inventory capability allows customers to know if an item is currently in stock, and provides the opportunity to suggest another product and still make the sale. It improves customer service by avoiding disappointment and the need to provide refunds. For the business, it provides accurate inventory tracking and asset management. A robust CRM, ERP or online shopping cart system often has a real time inventory web enabled component to it. For anyone involved in ecommerce, this is now a necessity.
Recommended Resources: NetSuite Small Business (www.netsuite.com) has many features, including ecommerce features, that are targeted at small businesses.  Prices start at $99 per month per user for the first user, then an additional $49 per month per additional user.  MonsterCommerce.com, Miva Merchant (www.miva.com)  and 1ShoppingCart Pro (1shoppingcart.com) all have real time inventory ecommerce capabilities, too.