1. Find a gap in the market
The first step to starting any business is to find a need and fill it. When it comes to starting an online store, you need to find a niche that isn’t being served or is underserved. This can be done by conducting market research, looking at trends, or even talking to potential customers.
You’ll be tempted to jump in without researching competitors or running a market evaluation. Take the time to develop a good unique selling proposition and understand how you’ll provide value in a competitive market.
Online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy will always be competitors, but there are also hundreds of smaller brands you’ll be competing with.
2. Validate your products
Prior to investing time and money into creating a product, it’s important to validate its demand.
Validating product ideas can reduce the risk of failure and increase the chances of success. It allows you to assess whether a product will meet a need or be in high demand before investing time and money.
One way to validate product ideas is by getting feedback in the early stages of development. Customer feedback helps you assess customer needs and make changes to the product before it goes to market. Customers can also provide feedback on pricing, packaging, and marketing ideas, which are invaluable to the success of your online store.
3. Use a free ecommerce website builder
An ecommerce website builder is a cost-effective way to open an online store. You can create a professional-looking website without having to hire a web designer or spending much money upfront.
Website builders are easy to use, even without technical experience. You can typically create a website in just a few hours with a good ecommerce platform like Shopify.
Ecommerce website builders provide everything you need to launch and operate your online store, including:
- Hosting
- Security
- Checkout pages
- Payment gateways
- Customer support
With an ecommerce website builder, you can scale your small business as big as you want. There are no limits on the number of products you can sell or the amount of traffic your website can receive. You can also accept various payment methods like credit cards, Shop Pay, and PayPal without any complicated setup.
4. Know who your ideal customer is
To be successful, you need to know some things about your ideal customer. Who are they? What do they like? What do they need? When you know who your target customer is, you can create merchandise, content, and marketing strategies that appeal to them.
For example, if your target customer is a busy entrepreneur, you might sell products that make their life easier, like organization tools, time-saving appliances, or stylish yet comfortable clothes.
5. Invest in great website design
Website design is critical for the success of your ecommerce business. Half of consumers believe a website design is important to a company’s brand. With the rise of mobile online shopping, you also want to ensure your website is mobile friendly.
You want to invest in web design for three reasons:
- Your website is the first thing a customer sees when visiting your store. If it’s not well designed, it will turn 42% of customers away, and they won’t bother to come back.
- Websites have a major impact on conversion rates. Good web design helps customers find what they need effortlessly, which increases sales.
- A good website helps you stand out from the competition. A well-crafted homepage and product pages can build trust with online shoppers and convince them to buy.
6. Optimize your product pages
The best way to earn more ecommerce sales is by investing in your product pages. A product page shows shoppers what a product looks like, shares useful information about it, and convinces them to buy. Clean design, captivating product descriptions, and customer testimonials are all features to include in your product pages.
7. Create a solid marketing plan
Behind every successful online store is a marketing plan. Planning helps you maximize your marketing spend and track your tactics, goals, and costs. Without one, you’re just throwing spaghetti at a wall hoping for something to stick.
8. Take amazing product photos
Take high-resolution product photos when opening your online store. It will help people perceive your products as high quality and can increase sales.
You can take the perfect product photos on a smartphone. Or, use an entry-level professional camera like a Nike D3500. If you’re taking photos at home, be sure to take them in a well-lit area. Your photos should be in focus, highlighting key product features, and should show the product from a variety of angles.
9. Set up your email marketing
Email is one of the most consistently effective channels for acquiring new customers. And while channels like search can take a while to generate organic traffic, email marketing can start working right away. That’s why you should invest in building an email list to promote your store.
There’s no need to spend all your time writing and sending emails. Make it easy on yourself by setting up a collection of automated email marketing campaigns designed to increase your revenue.
There are many options available, such as:
- Emailing new subscribers and offering them an incentive to shop
- Emailing new customers a post-sale email to upsell and delight
- Emailing visitors who abandoned their cart and reminding them to finish their purchase.
12. Invest in search engine optimization (SEO).
Although it takes a while to get going, search engines offer one of the few opportunities to build predictable, compounding web traffic.
An effective search strategy involves several steps, including forming a keyword strategy, conducting more granular keyword research, optimizing your site architecture and performance (e.g., category pages), and building links back to your website.
It’s an uphill battle, but it’s one you can fight in the background as your store starts to gain traction.
13. Make a return policy
A return policy helps to build trust with potential customers and can increase sales. Be sure to include clear instructions on how to return an item, what types of items can be returned, and how long customers have to return an item. You should also include your contact information in case customers have any questions.
14. Set up a blog
Blogging is a great way to promote your ecommerce site. With the right approach, blogging can effectively drive traffic and promote the lifestyle around your products. One study by HubSpot found that the more you blog, the more traffic your website gets.
Use your own blog to drive traffic and promote your products. When done effectively, blogging drives search engine traffic, attracts customers, and captures the attention of the media and high-profile bloggers who could write about you.
15. Offer excellent customer support
Offering excellent customer service is one of the best ways to differentiate your business from the competition. You can offer customer support through live chat, email, phone, or social media.
Be sure to respond to customer inquiries quickly and efficiently. You can also offer excellent customer service by providing helpful resources on your website, like product guides, size charts, and FAQ pages.
16. Partner with other brands
Partnering with other brands and influencers is a great way to promote your online store. You can partner with complementary brands to cross-promote each other’s products.
For example, you could partner with a baby food company or mom influencer if you sell baby clothes. Or, if you sell home décor, you could collaborate with a furniture company.
17. Offer free shipping
Offering free shipping is a proven way to increase sales and meet customer demands. Shoppers spend $22 more on a median order when free shipping is available.
Free shipping creates loyalty among customers who appreciate not having to pay for shipping costs. If you can offer free shipping without losing money, it could be a great marketing strategy for your ecommerce store.
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