Internet marketing using SEO and social media help drive revenue through my eCommerce site. I help startups, entrepreneurs, small and medium sized businesses to increase sales, reduce costs and generally meet their business objectives. I write books too - my books are translated and sold all over the world. Doing this allows me the flexibility to work from my poolside.

Ok, so I do have to fly off every now and then to build a new business application, give technical advice and consult with a few corporate clients. I also have a hand in helping a few startup companies that require me to work in different places (usually in-doors in front of several computers at once), but fundamentally, this picture of me (taken this morning) shows my office space in the heart of Cape Town.

Creating an effective sell page can be tricky. You have to incorporate visual design with functionality, marketing with SEO, performance with analytics, and the list goes on.

At its heart, an eCommerce page should make it easy for a reader to purchase something. This means that it needs to be clear and easy to understand. In other words, the customer needs to quickly be able to understand what it is they are forking out money for.

Startups, entrepreneurs and, more often than not, established businesses often miss out on potential profits and additional revenue due to lack of proper competitive analysis.

Competitive analysis looks at what everyone else is doing, and how they do it - not the same as market research, which concentrates on who will potentially want your product, content, or services.

Everyone, no matter who you are, is subject to the same laws of online business. You have to compete with a saturated market, you have to create a highly optimized, engaging and easy to use website or store. You need to do a bit of marketing to get the word out on social media, press releases and so on. SEO? You bet...

Ever wonder what would happen if old McDonald decided to get online - perhaps he'd set up an eCommerce store to sell all the animals that made so much noise and kept him awake at night. Well, let's say he did, and in the process, learned a few things about SEO, marketing and operating a successful eCommerce site.

I generally don't like to speak in absolutes - especially when it comes down to starting and operating a successful online business. there's a lot that goes into a successful business and many different aspects of the site, the marketing, operations, logistics etc can play crucial roles at different stages in the life cycle of a business.

With that said, there are certain aspects of running an online business that hold universally. Most of these "rules" are fairly easy to comprehend, but not all are as easy to implement. This article is going to look at what I consider the number one most important rule for successful eCommerce (although arguably I would consider it a tie with quality content, targeted and focused marketing and great customer service).

Many eCommerce site or online store owners tend to shy away from creating content in order to market their website online. After all, the accepted wisdom for converting customers as efficiently as possible is to show products clearly and attractively as possible and make it as easy as possible for customers make a purchase.

That's all good and well but this method focuses on converting traffic, not driving traffic. There's not much use in having the world's greatest salesperson if you keep him (her) locked in a basement. In the same way, putting all your energy into creating a slick, high converting eCommerce site (or online store) is not much use if you can't bring potential customers to it in sufficient numbers.

Anyone who has an idea for an online business, or at least one with an online component, doesn't have long before they come across an important question. What's the best way to create an ecommerce website? The answer is fairly straightforward, but in order for it to have credibility, we need to first look at what eCommerce entails in order to understand why the answer is correct.

One of the most common requirements for today's website is the ability to sell something. Most people don't realize that you don't even need an ecommerce site, as such, to add sales capability to any webpage. It is quite possible to add a simple PayPal "Buy this" button that will charge a visitor a pre-specified amount (accepting debit cards, credit cards, bank transfers and PayPal) using a secure checkout procedure and notify you once the transaction is complete. Just as easily, one could create subscriptions (recurring payments), donations or gift vouchers.