E-Commerce
In 2004, I was asked to oversee the implementation of a website for the musical instrument retailer ADC Drums & Percussion Ltd. Since then, the company involved have gone from strength to strength, which resulted in me being asked to help with the upgrade of their already successful eBay shop, implementing an online stock management system that bypassed eBay's interface and enabled them to launch new products and relist current ones very quickly.
My experience in this area has taught me a lot about the common mistakes sellers make with their eBay listings and how many are blindly losing money – even when they're selling vast quantities...I have also been involved in the white elephant known as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and experienced the sales pitch of so called 'experts' in their field who despite their plausibility, actually delivered nothing. These companies feed on a prospective clients need to have their website as the No.1 search result for websites in their business category on Google. In fact, Google have produced their very own advice PDF on best SEO practices for their search engine (Adobe Acrobat Reader needed to view this). It's just a pity more people aren't made aware of this and other free advice available about SEO before shelling out hundreds of pounds.
There are many lessons to be learnt in E-Commerce, some of them quite unpleasant. My history and continuous involvement in this area ensures that I have the skills to offer sound advice to newcomers wanting to explore this element of developing their online presence.
