Once you’ve decided to start your own online business, the process can be overwhelming. There are lots of decisions to be made, and making the wrong choices can have disastrous effects.
Fortunately, you don’t have to look far for the best approach. Web Ecommerce Pros will help you get through the process and offer some tips on how to start up your online store.
Choose Your Ecommerce Shopping Cart Wisely
The more time you spend choosing the right shopping cart platform that is right for your business, the more time you’ll have to work on other parts of your business. Choose your shopping cart platform carefully so that you’re able to focus on other factors of your business.
Many people prefer subscription-based carts. This type of platform will take care of the hosting and payment integration, taking that out of your concerns and will help you tremendously in launching your website.
Web Ecommerce Pros are experts in these shopping cart platforms and can help you to set up your ecommerce store:
We are experts in these self-hosted cart platforms as well:
Launch Your Store as Soon as Possible
Jump in & start your store so you can start learning about your customer base. You may think that you already know your customers, but you don’t. Not just yet!
Set up a basic store that people can access so you can get an idea of what aspects of your store and your business need adjusting.
Another reason to launch your store immediately is so you can market it sooner. Once you set up your site, even a basic one, the sooner you can talk to potential customers about it.
If you’re looking to launch your store immediately, you can use these tips:
- Use stock images – If you are reselling items, use stock imagery of your products. Once you’re able to produce your own imagery, you can then update your store to its desired look.
- Use a template – Regardless of the template, keep in mind that the way you market it is the most efficient way to sell your store to your customers. You do not need a very expensive template for your online store to be useful. Your clients won’t be technical and will not be able to tell if you’re using a template.
#DIY
Do as much as possible by yourself when launching your ecommerce store. If you don’t fully understand how your business works, chances are you won’t be able to train a team to run your business for you.
When you do things yourself, it also makes you prioritize which aspects of the business should be addressed immediately and what can wait. It’s easy to invest your money in solving a problem instead of analyzing if it is necessary.
Non-Stop Marketing!
People underestimate how much marketing is needed to build an effective ecommerce business. Back in “the old days,” it took a lot of effort to get your business noticed and on the map.
During the first six months on any new ecommerce site, we recommend this timeline:
- First month: launch a basic ecommerce site
- Second month: make adjustments based on your site’s performance during the first month
- Third to the sixth month: market like your business depends on it because it does!
Well, over half of the first six months of your ecommerce store will be spent on marketing. Not branding, not creating your strategic vision, but straight-up marketing. The majority of ecommerce sites fail because they don’t take early marketing into consideration.
Using SEO and other organic marketing efforts to start with will provide a higher return on your investment, sustainable traffic, and significantly higher profits. Or using PPC (pay-per-click) marketing will get your business recognized on search engines immediately.
If you find yourself in need of assistance with PPC marketing or SEO needs, we are here to help & guide you. Web Ecommerce Pros is your one-stop shop for all things ecommerce!