Once we arrive at Wal Mart, we enter a huge parking lot. Your web site must also enable a lot
of visitors. If your site is on a slow server, you may be losing customers. That’s lesson #2.

As soon as we enter Wal Mart, we are welcomed by a Wal Mart greeter. This greeter not only welcomes us to the store, but
also offers help in pointing out where to find what you’re looking for. That’s lesson 3a and 3b. Your site
should welcome visitors and provide navigation to all the products and services you offer. You can do
this by simply including a graphic on your page that says “Welcome, Click Here to find what you’re looking
for” and have that link go to your site map.

Beyond the greeter is a wide path that branches out to different areas of the store with banners overhead that tell you what
you can find in those areas. Your site map should consist of main links, as well as sub-links to
corresponding pages. Now we get to lesson 4, that each page of your site needs to have a
topic, a main header, that defines what each page is about, as well as provide links, pathways
to corresponding pages, because you’ll notice that Wal-Mart arranges their store to group
products that are similar. The hardware section is near the automotive center, housewares are
near food items, lawn and garden items are near the hardware and pet supply areas, etc. But
you can still get from one area to another.

As you browse the shelves, you see more than one type of item. If you’re in the grocery section;
for example, you’ll see many different types of beans. Canned beans, dry beans, even beans
from different companies. That’s lesson #5. You should offer your site visitors more than one
choice. If your site offers auto loans, for example, offer your visitors new auto loans, used auto
loans, even auto refinancing loans. And, you may want to offer them more than one choice for
each type of auto loan. Afterall, visitors came to your site because they are shopping around…
so let them shop and choose from multiple options. Just remember not to stick
cheese products in your automotive section!

Another thing you’ll notice as you browse the shelves, which leads us to lesson #6… although
the shelves are stocked full, it’s still easy to pick out your favorite can of beans. This is because
the shelves are stocked neatly and orderly. The ads you put onto your site should also be neat
and orderly. Mixing in tall banners with short banners and having banners for totally different
products and services can make shopping your site more difficult. For example, if you have a
page about auto loans, you wouldn’t want to put a tall auto loan banner right next to a
short casino banner. Instead, put a tall auto insurance banner next to the tall auto loan banner.

As you roam the store, you frequently encounter employess who can help you find items. This goes
back to lessons 3a and 3b. Each page of your site should have a help link to your site map, or you
should have a site search.

Since Wal Mart makes it easy to find an employee to ask for assistance, that leads us to another lesson:
Does you site offer customer service? Can visitors click on a button to ask you questions before they
make a decision? Or do they simply exit your site?

Lesson #7: How many times have you heard announcements in Wal Mart? They frequently
announce specials over their public address system. We are not suggesting that you force visitors
to endure slow loading sound files. But you can make sound an option. To see how you can use
this marketing option, go to www.geocities.com/pulsarmarketing

We have an example there on how you can offer your visitors the option to hear your audible promotion without forcing them to listen and making your pages load slow.
All you have to do is create a wav sound file, and launch it by using a graphic or text link
such as: “Click Here to listen to our promotion”.

The personal touch of a person’s voice on your site can help increase your conversions. But
don’t force the loading of sound files. Instead, use the method we recommend at
the URL below:

www.geocities.com/pulsarmarketing

Another thing you can do to tell your site visitors about specials or new products and services your
site offers, is to offer them a free subscription to your newsletter. Now that we’ve toured Wal Mart and we’re ready to make our purchase, we know our way to the
checkout counter because Wal Mart makes it easy for us. That’s lesson #8. Your site needs to make
it easy for visitors to purchase. If you do not provide any of your own products or services and strictly
use affiliate programs, you need to make sure your relevant banners and text links are at the top of the page,
clearly and readily visible, to the people visiting that page.

When we arrive at the checkout counter, besides asking us if we want paper or plastic and if we will
be purchasing with cash or credit, the cashier asks if we found everything we needed. That’s lesson
#9. Make sure you offer your site visitors more options when they checkout. And, once again, if you do not
directly sell your own products or services and you strictly use affiliate programs, you can offer your
site visitors two links to click on: One link that opens the offer into a new window so the person may continue
browsing your site after they are done applying or buying from your sponsor, and another link that simply
goes directly to the sponsor in the same window.

Think we’re done learning from Wal Mart? No. After we make our purchase, and even after we go home,
there’s lesson #10… the return policy. If you sell your own products or services, you need to assure
your visitors that you stand behind what you sell, and make your return policy very clear. If you do
not sell your own products and services, does your site have a way for customers to resolve
problems, or to ask pre-sale questions? If not, you may lose customers to sites that do provide online customer service.

Author: David Hurlbert
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Wordpress plugin Guest Blogger

Starting a pet-based home business is not easy but again it is not as hard as you might think. Normally there is no need to have a large space to keep the pet products in. In fact if you open an online pet store where you can sell pet products, you will only need to stock and maintain select products, the bulk of what you need can actually be kept and maintained by others. The rest of the products for pets can be kept by a dropshipping company that carries products and will even process sales for you. So the purchasing and receiving of the product is handled even without the seller touching or even seeing the product. Seeing there is little need to keep products with you in the home and the products sold are not even yours the cost of setting up and managing the business is actually minimal. Nevertheless you will most probably need a website that is properly hosted. For your web hosting, you can just use one of those free sites for a start to save on set up costs. Alternatively there are still some very effective and inexpensive webhosts available.

It is quite possible to use a dropshipping company for your online pet store. If you use an independent supplier ensure that they are reputable. Preferably they should also be located very close to you to ensure that you can maintain a watch on the quality and availability of wholesale pet supply products. Always make sure that you have steady supply of the products that you sell in your site otherwise you will have many disgruntled clients on your hands. Having disgruntled clients is not really a pretty thing so make sure that you give good service. Nevertheless there should be little problem with irrate customers with an online pet supply website because you remain somewhat anonymous throughout the process.

As you can see it is not difficult to get an online pet store going. However it still requires dedication and the willingness to provide quality customer service. There is nothing worse than a website that is claiming to be running a money making business being irresponsible and not controlling the selling and supplying of products in as professional manner as an offline business.

Amanda King runs a dropshipping website http://www.jewelkingusa.com that supplies a range of products for pets. She also supplies resources for online businesses http://www.ask2profit.com Her blog Royal Home Business Ideas can be found at http://www.ask2profit.com/blog

USA web pet business you have, pet lovers are more likely to buy if you seem like a pet lover as well. One idea is to make your website seem like you hold pets in high importance and your site does not look like just your

USA web pet business is only for revenues. A lady I know puts up pictures of her pets frequently so that her customers can feel like she is as involved in the lifestyle as they are. She puts pictures of her dogs in electronic heart “frames,” which you can do with many photo editing programs, to especially emphasize her love for the animals. Making customers feel personally attached to your pets will make them feel better about purchasing anything from your

USA based web pet business. If you have a breeding web pet business in the

USA, having testimonials from other buyers who are happy with their purchase will help others be persuaded to purchase from you as well. It is also good to refer to the purchases, in a breeding web pet business, as pet adoptions. People like to think of their pets as members of their family, hence the word “adoption.” It might be a good idea to research successful

USA web pet businesses before starting your own if you are thinking about it. Modeling your web pet business after these websites will ensure that your business will be up to par and ensure more traffic at your website.So these are the steps to making a good

USA web pet business. I wish you much success and hope that the whole process will prove to be a fun time for you and your customers!

Robert Grazian is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

To learn more about USA web pet business visit High Income Online for current articles and discussions.

Sketchy return policies. An online pet store should be willing to take the pet back if there are any problems. Do not buy from ones that refuse to do so. Read the return policy before signing up for anything, because once you agree to the terms and conditions, it will be very hard to complain.

Zero customer support. Avoid buying from online pet store that does not have consistent support facilities for pet owners. You will find it very hard to solicit important pet information, such as when to get vaccines for your pets or what types of food your pet can eat. Instead, go for stores that provide support for pet owners. If the store has an in-house vet, that’s even better!

Incomplete paperwork. Do not buy from online stores that refuse to send you the papers documenting a pet’s purebred status before or immediately after you purchase. They are probably hiding something. Some online vendors, for example, claim that their puppies are registered with an exclusive organization and promise to send you the documentation at a later date, when in fact, they never do.

High prices. There’s no reason to pay loads of money for a pet when you can purchase from other online pet stores that carry the same quality pets for a lower price. Remember that just because an animal is expensive does not mean it is “better.” Some online pet stores cash in on the sudden hypes about certain breeds. Do not let them take your money – there are many other genuine, dedicated breeders who are not too concerned about profit margins. They sell healthy pets for reasonable price.

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