eCommerce Tycoon

**goldenspiralstds** · 06-28-2011, 10:59 PM

False product description and poor customer support.

**James-A** · 07-06-2011, 06:15 AM

In my opinion small businesses fail to become big at the appropriate time. As the business starts growing, the marketing techniques have to be changed, higher efficiency should be ensured, faster service should be provided. It is also important to upgrade the web hosting plan as well if the span of online transactions increase.

**chrishirst** · 07-07-2011, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldenspiralstds

False product description

That's not a "mistake"!

That's just crass stupidity!!

**daisies1062** · 08-01-2011, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Fred

What do you think, what are the worst business practice or techniques are adopted by the small business owners or entrepreneurs? How they should avoid it? What are your ideas?

I consider buying imitations (when it pertains to buying and selling products) as the worst business practices. Smart customers know the difference between a fraud and a genuine product.

**marknel** · 08-02-2011, 02:58 AM

As a small business owner,I tried to do everything from taking care of the administrative,marketing,accounting ...everything.it was literally a one man show. It had a drastic impact on my family life ..I now have a partner to take care of the admin and sales front while I take care of the creative part.

**neema19s** · 08-04-2011, 05:44 PM

Worst mistake i will say is, most will not have same level of spirit they had while planning the business, after actually starting it.

**sharonhod** · 11:23 AM

As I see it, all the mistakes which result in bad management:
1. No execution plan (whatever comes).
2. Trying to do everything themselves (lack or no outsourcing).
3. No focus (shooting to all directions but eventually never go deep on a project).
4. Lack of market research (product validation, competition, human capital).
5. Thinking how to save money instead of how to make money.

From my experience, if the above are fine you can cover up all the other failures if any.

**rtucker** · 08-05-2011, 10:27 PM

@ sharonhod
Some mistakes that I could definitely relate with, so much so with the focus part since I fancy multi-tasking and not focusing all out on just on thing. Proved to be unproductive which is why it should be avoided.

Worst mistake probably is doubting yourself, since it can definitely make or break your plans.

**sharonhod** · 08-06-2011, 04:53 PM

You got it! Doubting yourself is surely the worst barrier. People can't just lay all the weight on their business, taking the chance by saying "no way back, only sucess!".

**gia9211** · 09-14-2011, 09:06 AM

Really enjoyed reading this thread according to my experience many major mistakes that small business owners do. Like some entrepreneurs spend too much time talking about how his or her product or service works and not enough time explaining what problem it solves only try to Share why customers will buy your product or service. Entrepreneurs often use statistics to help explain their business. While some figures -- such as your sales and revenue -- are important to establish a track record, don't go overboard.To capture your client's full attention, explain your business by telling a story and try to Focus on the benefit your business offers.Hope this will be helpful ,have a good day mates

**ThomasDNP** · 09-22-2011, 06:57 AM

I think that a confusing site is the worst problem customers have. Some sites are designed without the customer's needs as the target and focus.

When building a site you must cater to your customers first - understand what they're after and what's the best way to give it to them. The rest will probably come along on its own.

**FidelityNat** · 06:06 AM

Well, indeed advertising may eat up a lot of your budget. And it can be dangerous if your business has not grown enough fat on it and when you have to count every dollar you earn and spend. I have recently published an article about this - Tips for Buying Banner Ad Placements for Small and Medium Sized Businesses and also published it on ezine

**intelligentcrowd** · 02:44 AM

A mistake I made was paying someone to tweet my message to his 10k twitter followers.

It had absolutely no impact at all.

Lesson learned: Twitter and social media are about conversations and not one way link blasting.

**intelligentcrowd** · 11-16-2011, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shey

probably due to wrong demographics. You need to target your market not just random 10k individuals

Yep. That's exactly why it was a dumb idea.

**intelligentcrowd** · 11-16-2011, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shey

probably due to wrong demographics. You need to target your market not just random 10k individuals

So essentially a better way to go about it would be to build a community of say 100-200 followers that have much more interest in the topic?

That will be be next approach for future projects... but if you've more suggestions I'm all ears

**Plexihost** · 11-16-2011, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by intelligentcrowd

Yep. That's exactly why it was a dumb idea.

Hopefully it didn't cost you too much?

**intelligentcrowd** · 11-17-2011, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plexihost

Hopefully it didn't cost you too much?

thankfully no

. but sometimes it is not about the cost.. it is the 'what the heck was I thinking?' part

**ctsseo** · 02:57 AM

yeah that's a great post.. mostly did this worst mistakes while working on several projects..

Regards
Meryl Goney

**LakiCG** · 12-05-2011, 12:29 PM

I am going to mention few the most important things that you should go about regarding a design of your e-commerce website. Some of them are often overlooked.

1. You have limited time to get your message accross. If there are too many distractions, a visitor is likely to leave your website from a landing page. If you use Google analytics you can find "Bounce Rate" value which indicates exactly this (in percantage).
2. The visitors must learn as much as possible about the benefits about your products/services.
3. If your website does its job, you will likely have prospects who want to learn more or ask simple questions. Make them easy to contact you.
4. Clear call to action such as "buy now", "find more", etc.
5. Clear design (font easy to read, etc.)
6. If you are a small business you shouldn't pretend to be big. Your ability to relate to your visitors is a reason why they will eventually choose you. You should use conversational tone in your writing.

Hope this helps.

**delhis** · 03-01-2012, 08:12 AM

Mismangement is funds is i think worst mistake in any small business