Web design

Getting Started With Your Ecommerce Store

ecommerce-softwareStarting your eCommerce business? Start preparing a long list of the things that you need to make a successful start. The list won't end and you might feel exhausted, dreaming about success, no action in real. The market, the products, the services, the logistics, the payment modes, the website building platform, and top of the all reaching the global prospects, all these things might end in nothing, but headache. Stop thinking, stop wasting your time, just follow your dreams, but read the lines below at first that will show you the right path, the way to online success.

1. Narrow Down The Target Niche

If you are targeting some particular niche, better to narrow that down instead of going the broad way. It will help in attracting more site traffic and hence more conversions. So, to have a successful start of your ecommerce store, better is to choose a specific niche, catering to the needs of some particular product's customers.

2. Trial Is Must

Before actually investing in any new product, better to check whether it has the desired interest of the targeted customers and it has more chances of having conversions. Starting with a blog is a good idea to go for. That way, you will get a better idea of how much interest people have in your upcoming ecommerce business. Knowledge of the industry would be another advantage of running a blog before you start working on your website.

3. Decide Wisely About Manufacturing Location

If you are planning to have your own production, then you might think about cheap manufacturing, just to keep the cost low and the profit higher. Decision about the manufacturing place might be made while considering the low cost factor. If you decide about some location in Asia, like China, as it's the choice of many large ecommerce businesses, you need to be warned about

  • The language barrier
  • The quality control measures
  • And, the different business approach

By choosing a trustworthy partner and a native of the location, you can get the orders supplied on time and on budget. Do visit the place, the factory where manufacturing would be carried out, and the workers working over there. Also, spend some money to get few samples of your products to check the quality they could deliver. All these things are necessary to make your ecommerce website providing enhanced online shopping experience to the customers because they will be delivered what they are promised.

4. Search Engine Optimization: Oxygen For Your Ecommerce Website

When you are doing online business, you need the right positioning on search engines to get noticed by the targeted audiences. If your online shop isn't at the first page of Google, don't expect the desired response from the prospects. Search engine optimization is the oxygen for any website catering to the needs of online customers. Spend time regularly on SEO of your website or hire ecommerce SEO experts to take your website at top of Google rankings. If you are doing it yourself, promote your website at social media, the most popular way of attracting and retaining prospects.

In the SEO campaign of your website, focus

  • Creating content that is likable and sharable
  • Guest posting for relevant blogs. Ask your SEO Company whether they will do that for your website promotion. It will help making you a distinguished and expert name in your particular niche.
  • Forum discussions. Share your valuable opinion on the topics being discussed in ecommerce forums. It will also help you in getting more links for your website and hence making it climbing up the search engine ranks.

5. Think Cautiously About The Platform

If you fall prey to the developers or a developing agency, you might get bombarded by the ideas of the platforms to build your ecommerce store. The ideas are usually bound to the expertise of the developers or the web development company. You need to decide whether you want Magento, Shopify, OS Commerce, or Volusion specialists (Comparison). Even if you aren't expert of the field, have knowledge of all the platforms, it will help you picking the one beneficial for your online business, not just following the developers' suggestions blindly.

While deciding about the ecommerce platform, think about the cost involved, the technical expertise required to handle the dealings, and the best advantages the platform could offer. Do check for the extensions that the platform could have to make your online shop a home to loyal customers. Make sure that you use Google Maps on your website to give physical store’s directions to your customers. In case you are using Magento, there is an extension called Magento Store Locator for Google Maps that you can use to provide such functionality.

Are you clear what to consider for building your ecommerce store? Keep one thing in mind that your website should be as per expectations of the targeted customers whether it's about the products, the web development platform, the search engine positioning, and anything else. Follow what your prospects are looking for and find ways to please them. The success and profit would be in your way. What else you want from your online business?

Feel free to use the comment section below to share your views on this post or if you have any more points to add. It's all about helping the ecommerce newbie!

If you have any questions, please ask below!