One of the most frequently asked questions by small business owners is how to start an online store business… we’ll give you the long and short break downs to help you get your business started online as easily as possible without any added stress.
Short…ish Answer
The short answer is, get the right online store for your products. If you sell digital downloads, research online stores that offer downloadable products. Compare the features and compare the package prices to find the best solutions. Demo the solutions, speak with the company, read their reviews, and do your due diligence. Be prepared to fail at least once in choosing the wrong online store platform, abandoning it, and chalking it up to a learning experience. Almost every merchant we speak with goes through this process and sometimes many times before finding the right online store partner.
Find an online store eCommerce provider that can either setup your website for you or support you effectively enough to set it up yourself. If you are a busy CEO with plenty on your plate as it is, the choice is clear. If you are a designer and web developer with little to no learning curve involved then the choice is clear. In either case, service and support are key features your online store provider should offer.
Longer Answer
- Obviously you must have a product or service to sell, what are people asking for, what problems are they trying to solve. The more people who have a problem that you could solve, the better.
- Write copy that supports your value proposition (key to getting the price you deserve for the value you provide).
- Design and build an easy-to-use eCommerce website. See short-ish answer for details.
- Use social media, blogging, and advertising to drive traffic to your site.
- Establish an expert reputation for yourself (start with LinkedIn posting and blogging on latest news/tweets/topics as CEO of your company blog).
- Build a mailing list (use newsletter providers like iContact, Mailchimp, etc) and follow up with your subscribers regularly with offers.
- EXPERT TIP: Send an immediate email within 24 hours to each new subscriber with a lesser product offering at a lesser price (research automated conversion funnels to learn more)
- Increase your income through multi-channel sales, meaning sell on multiple marketplaces and target specific industry verticals to scale revenue) and upselling, meaning selling add-ons, upgrades, and affiliate offerings that are complementary to the customer.
Earth Skater specializes in setting up online stores for small business owners with our amazing and complimentary website setup and transfer. We’ve helped hundreds of merchants make an easy transition to a flexible and full featured website and online store platform.
The above 7 steps were built upon content found on the excellent business site Entrepreneur.com: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/175242
