Whether you’re a first-time online entrepreneur or an experienced business owner, there are a few key considerations to keep in mind about starting your own e-commerce website. Follow these tips for all of the right reasons, and you will be well on your way to success!
Already Own a Brick-and-Mortar Shop or Business? An E-Commerce Store Could Help
In the past decade, online shopping has been rapidly on the rise, and in the last two years, it has surged. In fact, now more people are shopping online for goods and services than ever before. In a recent report, Adobe says that the United States spent over $204 billion during the 2021 holiday season. That’s over 40% more than back in 2019! If you already own a brick-and-mortar store or business and are thinking about opening an e-commerce website as well, now is definitely the time! Selling physical goods online is a creative way to leverage an existing brick-and-mortar store and expand into the online realm. If you already sell goods, like clothing or electronics, using e-commerce is a great option for you.
One of the greatest benefits of an e-commerce website is that your store can always stay open 24/7, and you don’t have to worry about paying extra rent or utility bills like you would if you opened more physical store locations. Opening an e-commerce website could be your way of increasing your revenue stream and reaching larger audiences.
If you have begun doing some research on creating your e-commerce website, you may have run into some names like WordPress, Avada, Etsy, Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix. A lot of these are website builders or hosts where you can sell your products or services. Different website builders have different advantages and disadvantages, so it takes some digging and aligning with your overall business goals to find the right match for you. It is best to begin your e-commerce transition by working on your business’s overall goals and objectives, and how these are shaping your strategies.
Find A Marketing Strategy That Works For Your Business
There are a lot of strategies that you can use in order to market your e-commerce business. However, finding the right marketing mix is going to be a key component.
For example, there are many e-commerce sites that put out a newsletter for their customers. This can boost revenue for their e-commerce business in the long run.
Another method would be SEO. In order to promote an idea or subject matter that is specific to your online store, pay attention to the keywords which are being used in search engines when it comes to products and services similar to yours. Optimizing keywords in all of your marketing endeavors (SEM and SEO both) will only increase your search engine ranking.
Focus on One Niche
In order to be successful in your e-commerce endeavors, it is important to focus on only one niche. If your business or marketing efforts are unfocused, you run the risk of losing sales to competitors who are focused. By sticking to one niche, potential customers will find it easier to find your store and know they can count on your service or product quality.
Whether you’re a first-time online entrepreneur or an experienced business owner, there are a few key considerations to keep in mind about starting your own e-commerce website. Follow these tips for all of the right reasons, and you will be well on your way to success!
Already Own a Brick-and-Mortar Shop or Business? An E-Commerce Store Could Help
In the past decade, online shopping has been rapidly on the rise, and in the last two years, it has surged. In fact, now more people are shopping online for goods and services than ever before. In a recent report, Adobe says that the United States spent over $204 billion during the 2021 holiday season. That’s over 40% more than back in 2019! If you already own a brick-and-mortar store or business and are thinking about opening an e-commerce website as well, now is definitely the time! Selling physical goods online is a creative way to leverage an existing brick-and-mortar store and expand into the online realm. If you already sell goods, like clothing or electronics, using e-commerce is a great option for you.
One of the greatest benefits of an e-commerce website is that your store can always stay open 24/7, and you don’t have to worry about paying extra rent or utility bills like you would if you opened more physical store locations. Opening an e-commerce website could be your way of increasing your revenue stream and reaching larger audiences.
If you have begun doing some research on creating your e-commerce website, you may have run into some names like WordPress, Avada, Etsy, Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix. A lot of these are website builders or hosts where you can sell your products or services. Different website builders have different advantages and disadvantages, so it takes some digging and aligning with your overall business goals to find the right match for you. It is best to begin your e-commerce transition by working on your business’s overall goals and objectives, and how these are shaping your strategies.
Find A Marketing Strategy That Works For Your Business
There are a lot of strategies that you can use in order to market your e-commerce business. However, finding the right marketing mix is going to be a key component.
For example, there are many e-commerce sites that put out a newsletter for their customers. This can boost revenue for their e-commerce business in the long run.
Another method would be SEO. In order to promote an idea or subject matter that is specific to your online store, pay attention to the keywords which are being used in search engines when it comes to products and services similar to yours. Optimizing keywords in all of your marketing endeavors (SEM and SEO both) will only increase your search engine ranking.
Focus on One Niche
In order to be successful in your e-commerce endeavors, it is important to focus on only one niche. If your business or marketing efforts are unfocused, you run the risk of losing sales to competitors who are focused. By sticking to one niche, potential customers will find it easier to find your store and know they can count on your service or product quality.
Leverage Social Media For Your Business
Social media can be extremely beneficial for growing your e-commerce website. This includes, but is not limited to Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many others. Take the time to learn about each social media platform and how you can use it for maximum results.
Once you have a thorough understanding of each one, start leveraging these social media platforms to suit your needs. The point is to connect with people in your niche and give them a reason to support you by becoming your customers. In order to succeed, you must be able to motivate and inspire people through social media. This can be done through multiple strategies like creating contests for people to win a free product or creating digestible content that intrigues your potential customers to learn more about your products and business.
If you want to get real results from a social media campaign, try promoting special offers that are unique from other promotions. You can do this by offering promotions that are time-sensitive or something that is only offered for short periods of time. If a customer feels like they are missing out on something, they might buy the product right then to assure that they get it.
In order for your social media efforts to be successful, it is imperative that you create and adhere to a strategy that fits your goals. Take the time to understand how it fits into your plans for growing your business. It will help in the long run.
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Set Realistic Goals For Your E-commerce Website
Setting realistic goals will help with managing expectations and provide direction as you grow your e-commerce website. There is a lot of competition when it comes to selling online, so keep revenue growth in mind when setting goals. In order to succeed with growing your revenue, set incremental goals that are obtainable every month or quarter. This will ensure that you are able to reach your goals with no problems.
It is important to set goals that are realistic because if you set unrealistic ones, you can become discouraged and fail. If you try and fail repeatedly with the same mistakes, then of course you won’t be able to succeed in building a long-term business for your website. Instead, reach for the stars knowing that there is no need to overextend yourself and even if things don’t go perfectly at first, this will still help in building your business over time!
Looking To Sell 100% Online or In-Person, Too?
Many people sell online because it allows them to grow their business quickly. If you want to succeed with your e-commerce website, try and sell online for the most part. This will allow you to deliver a higher-quality product and also help you avoid overhead costs such as rent.
You should definitely consider selling in person if you believe that there are people who would prefer this method of doing business and the overhead costs are within your budget. If you have a passion for selling in person, then this shouldn’t be overlooked! Keep the idea of offering both online and in-person sales methods with your e-commerce website because sometimes things like boot fairs or flea markets can work really well!
Leverage Social Proof In Your Marketing Materials
People will have a hard time believing in something or someone without proof of past success. If you want to succeed with your e-commerce website, then you’ll need to do your research and find out what’s going on in the online world. Find out what other people are doing and then use those ideas in your marketing materials.
For example, one idea is to see if there is buzz about a certain topic or product related to e-commerce. From there, you can create content that helps to build on the subject matter. This will make it easy for your business to rank high in Google which will result in more traffic and customers!
Use Social Proof To Build Trust
As mentioned before, people need proof when they are making big decisions, and using social proof in order to build trust with your potential customers is a great way to do so. Wikipedia has defined social proof as “a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.” One way that can be done this is through case studies. Be sure to include real case studies at all times because fake ones will not work well.
The next way to build on this is through reviews. Reviews are important because they tell customers what other people have experienced prior to making a purchase of your product or service. This can help them to make a decision on whether or not they want to buy from your business.
Join Affiliate Programs
There are many affiliate programs out there which can help you to promote your online store effectively. Some may require that you pay a small membership fee. These affiliate programs will help promote your business and products by finding ways to reach potential customers online through content and advertisements. Make sure that you negotiate the costs of joining the program with them!
Offer Free Shipping On Orders Of A Certain Amount
Nobody likes having to pay for shipping and handling, so a significant portion of e-commerce websites opt for free shipping to their customers. However, shipping costs can hurt the potential of an e-commerce business if this is not worked into their pricing model strategy. Therefore, it is important that if you do offer free (or low-cost shipping) to your customers, you include this in your products’ selling prices.
Add Value To Your Products
It’s important to work hard in order to build your e-commerce business and this includes finding ways to add value to your products. For example, you can add bonus products with individual orders or provide special offers that give people discounts on their first purchase. This type of promotion can entice customers to subscribe to your email list to keep them in the loop about your business updates like new products. Another simple way of adding value to your products is to have branded and creative packaging. In this day and age, keeping it green is best.
There are many ways to add value to your products and services that will help your e-commerce business grow. Make sure you do your research so that you know what works best and adds the most value to your products!
Consider Outsourcing Certain Parts Of Your Business
Outsourcing can help you to save a lot of time and resources when working with your e-commerce website. This can help when it comes to getting things done that take a lot of time or aren’t necessary for the success of growing your online business. This way, you only need to focus on the tasks that are vital for developing the business which will help keep things under control.
Maintaining a healthy e-commerce website isn’t easy but there are some ways that can make it more manageable.
Find Ways To Reduce Your Operating Expenses
E-commerce websites need to be able to reduce their operating expenses in order for them to thrive over time. For example, this could mean reduced marketing costs or a smaller warehouse space so no rent is needed. On the other hand, you can try to collect leads that are being generated from your blog or website. This will help to grow your e-commerce business by increasing the number of sales that come through.
Cater Your Content to Your Customers’ Needs, Not Your Own
Make sure that you don’t over-promote your products or services. This is a common mistake made with online businesses because they are too consumed about their own brand. However, this will only hurt your brand over time because the majority of potential customers are thinking only about themselves and their needs. So how can you create content that speaks directly to the customer? Research trends and come up with a problem that your customer could have, and create a unique solution that addresses their needs and values. A great way to test content (and promotions) is through paid social media because this will allow you to see what works best and what doesn’t really work at all in a smaller amount of time.
There is no perfect recipe for the best plan for e-commerce businesses, but by setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound) goals based on your research, you are definitely on track to becoming an e-commerce business. There will be a lot of mistakes on the way, but these are only opportunities for learning and growth.
Looking for some external help in organizing your marketing goals? Contact Hudson Digital Group for a free audit!