Customers have embraced online shopping due to the new way of living we have adopted these past 2 years. Now is a great time to start an ecommerce business. It has become quicker and easier to buy and sell online. People are now using their laptops, tablets, and even mobile phones to make purchases via the Internet.
There are many reasons why you should start an ecommerce business.
But first, what is ECommerce?
ECommerce, simply put, is the sale of services and goods over an electronic medium, for example, the Internet.
There are 3 types of ecommerce stores, these are:
- B2B (business to business)
- B2C (business to customer)
- C2C (customer to customer)
All in all, people can now enjoy shopping from the comfort of their own homes so you might want to consider starting your own online business! If you’re still worried and don’t know how to start an ecommerce business
Here are 6 Tips for starting a successful ecommerce business today!
First stage:
FINDING A PRODUCT OR SERVICE
1. Solve an existing problem
When it comes to business, a great question to ask yourself is what problem am I trying to solve and whose problem is it? If you have an answer to these two questions, congratulations you are already a great big deal ahead of your future competition.
If not then do not worry, we all start somewhere. The first thing we must do is figure out what problem we want to solve and how to monetize the solution.
Solving a problem does not necessarily mean that your business needs to invent something completely new. Sometimes solving a problem can be as simple as making something easier.
Every successful business solves some sort of problem or at least makes the process smoother.
A great example of this is Amazon. It allows you to buy almost anything you need and have it shipped to your front door in record time.
Keep in mind solving problems does not only mean selling products, you can very well choose a great service to provide. For example, here at DoneMaker, we realized that many times when we need help getting a task done, we would spend too much time searching and hiring a professional to do so. That’s why we provide a 1 Task a day system that way you can feel reassured knowing that there is a professional getting your task done and you do not have to worry about searching or hiring.
2. Find a Niche
Good niche products are not always easy to come by but they come with incredible benefits. The counterargument to this is that by selling a niche product you are only useful for a small portion of the market. But the truth is that, when potential consumers are passionate about a certain hobby or trade, they’re inclined to invest more money to get exactly what they want.
Also selling a niche product will allow you to connect with a focused audience and simplify your marketing by having a clear message.
But how do we find the right niche for us?
The first place you must look is at yourself.
What interests or passion do you have and what products are fundamental for this.
After finding a product you must research the market to see if this product is a viable one. Here are 2 things to look out for when researching your niche:
- Analyze your competition
If you find Ads on your product this could indicate that this is a profitable niche. If you see too many then it might be oversaturated.
- Are you solving the right problem
Read comments and reviews to see what average customers are saying about the products. Are they content with the products? Are they mentioning anything to improve? Could you do it better?
Also when finding a niche, keep in mind your professional experience. Maybe you have a skill or set of skills you picked up over the years working in a specific area and feel like you could monetize the use of that skill.
Turning your expertise into your own ecommerce business is a great way to enter the market with a leg up.
Second Stage:
Creating your website
3. Choosing the right platform.
Once you know what you are going to sell and who you are targeting, you need them to have a place to find you and make sales.
There are many platforms available right now that give you the opportunity to sell your products or services.
For someone just starting out, you might want to consider Woo-commerce, its a plugin built for WordPress it’s very simple to use and free the only thing you would have to also acquire is website hosting and any additional plugins.
Another great option is Shopify, mostly known for dropshipping (a form of retail business wherein the seller accepts customer orders but does not keep the products sold in stock.)
This platform is fairly straightforward and easy to use. It allows you to create an online store that you can drive traffic to and have customers make payments online.
Last but not least is BigCommerce, very similar to Shopify in nature but has a few distinct differences for example:
BigCommerce offers several additional features like professional reporting, a built-in ratings and reviews system.
Choosing a platform is a big step to take when starting an ecommerce business so be sure to research deeper and understand exactly what you are looking for and which platform best accommodates to your needs.
4.Getting the Homepage Right!
When a new potential customer arrives on your website, it’s essential to capture their attention right away and give them a reason to stay and browse your website, increasing the likelihood of them finding something they may want to purchase.
The only way to do this is to create an intriguing homepage for your ecommerce business.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Many of the platforms you will use have a built-in template system to create a better-looking home page and overall website.
It’s not all about the looks though, we must also make sure the homepage is user-friendly and easy to navigate, if you have a difficult to use homepage, customers will be inclined to simply search for another store.
Also, keep in mind that the home page is the first thing that customers see, make sure to take advantage of this by putting the right thing on there for example
- Introduce your business to the potential consumer.
- Give them a glimpse of the products (or services) you are offering.
- Show customers testimonials.
- Give information on how customers can get in touch with you.
Third Stage
Marketing your website
5. Blogs and Social Media
Let’s start with Social Media, by now we all understand that most of our daily attention is directed to one of the big social media platforms.
When it comes to starting a successful ecommerce business we must take advantage of this, in this stage, it’s all about having as many eyes on your store as possible.
Social media is where online shoppers go to research brands and find new products.
There are many types of advertising you can do on social media as well that will help you grow even faster for example:
- Instant Experience (Facebook)
- Influencer Marketing
- Trend marketing
Now with blogs, things are a little different, we must learn many things to be able to successfully use and monetize blogs. A few key things to learn would be SEO add link and a little bit of website designing.
Blogs are great because they have the ability to rank on search pages for certain questions or statements. When used correctly, blogs can bring in heaps of traffic to your website organically. Keep in mind it may take up to 8 months for google to start ranking you to your full potential.
On top of this, we must mention that blogs and social media go great together. You can create social media content about your blogs to increase visibility and vice versa you can link your social media on your blogs as well.
That being said, making quality blogs is a very time-consuming job. That’s why here at DoneMaker we offer blog post proofreading and publishing done in 24 hours!
6. Invest in Email Marketing
Email is the currency of the web, and anybody who’s online has an active email address. Email Marketing has become more and more popular over the years and there’s a good reason for it.
See, one of the fundamental things to look for in ecommerce is returning customers. Studies show that a returning customer is likely to spend more than double that of a new customer. This is because they have already tested your company once and enjoyed the overall experience.
But how do we make Email marketing work?
- Be personal:
This is the space to get personal with your customers and by that we mean, knowing their needs, addressing them by name, deliver relevant messages.
- From Name and Subject line:
These are 2 very important aspects of email marketing. It is very important that subscribers know that the email is from your company and comes with a great subject line for maximum engagement.
- Automize:
Automation is key to being able to keep up with email marketing, this will help you with
Increasing conversion rates, Improving efficiency and also allow you to scale faster and easier.
Updating your email list can be a tedious job but it is definitely worth it.
Here at DoneMaker we understand that when done correctly, emails can get more sales from your existing customer base.
That’s why we offer our customer reactivation (Email Marketing) services.
7. LinkedIn Connection Service
Targeting the right group of people is one of the most difficult parts of growing your business. Doing this correctly will determine and forge your path towards scaling your business in the future.
Linkedin is an amazing service that when taken advantage of and used properly can be extremely useful.
To start off let me explain why Linkedin. This platform is owned by Microsoft (One of the best companies ever to create databases).
This means you have a higher chance of getting accurate data as opposed to using scraping tools or wasting countless amounts of hours to manually find your audience.
Again, when used correctly Linkedin can become an amazing opportunity to find new potential clients.
Linkedin also has a premium service called Linkedin Sales Navigator.
This service will allow you to create specific lists based on dozens of filters that will connect you with the exact audience you are searching for.
A professional paired with this service can help your business reach new people in days!
Are You Tired Of Not Getting Enough Clients? Check out our New client acquisition service
Conclusion:
Figuring out how to start an ecommerce website is a great opportunity we all have but there are a few things to keep in mind.
Finding your product or service can be difficult but take into consideration that you don’t have to invent anything new, all we must do is solve an existing problem or make a process easier.
Also, when building and marketing your website make sure to keep the customer in mind, that way you can get a better feel for what our potential customers are looking for.
Remember that we must always look at our business from the customer’s POV, that way we can improve the customer experience and increase sales.
All in all, creating an ecommerce business from scratch is a rewarding but hard task to accomplish successfully.
Here at DoneMaker, we offer you the ability to make this process much easier and faster by having professionals complete 1 task a day for you.
Check out our list of tasks we can help you with and start your ecommerce journey today!
