Local E-commerce "User Group"?

I'm brand new here, so if this is not the place to post this, please let me know.

I've got a brand new e-commerce website. I'm not only looking for feedback, but education. Tips on how to increase traffic, conversion rates, average sale amount, return customers, referals, etc. I also want to hear what new technologies others are using . In addition to communicating with other e-commerce site owners on-line, I'd like to get together with a group in my area and talk about what's going on. I've searched the Net but I can't find any listings for "local e-commerce owners organizations". Is there such a thing?

I'm in the Boston, MA area, btw.

Michael
www.landbridgetoys.com

Beside banner ads and search engine marketing, how about these:

1. Affiliate program: Start an affiliate program to get links from other websites to yours. This may not just increase sales, but also site popularity which can lead to a better search engine placement on the long run.

While you can participate as a member of an affiliate network, I think for small businesses it is better to start an own affiliate program using a software installed on their server (hosting account) that takes over the job. And beside the one-time license fee and a little time to get familiar with, it's free.

2. Mailings: I find it essential to have some kind of newsletter, where people can subscribe and get regular information about new products and events.

Also mailings sent out to existing customers is always a good idea to push up sales and make a one-time buyer a returning customer.

You may look around (maybe even on our website) for a newsletter management software that can be simply installed on your server and automatically takes over subscriptions and unsubscriptions, opt-in checks and other things you might find useful to have.

Regarding local "e-commerce owners organizations", these may be hard to find, but I think with this forum you found a good starting point :-)

Anyway, you may look for some webmaster forums dedicated to small businesses. I know there are a few, but the ones I'm aware of are more technical oriented than sales.

Michael -- I teach a couple of e-commerce workshops in the Boston area, including Boston Center for Adult Education. I keep in touch with some of the students. A few of them may be interested in forming a group and meeting in downtown Boston. Keep in touch and I'll contact you if anything develops. Also, if you want to check out the workshops, the summer sessions should be listed next month at bcae.org -- search on e-commerce.