7 Crucial Steps For Starting An Online eCommerce Business

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Online businesses are relatively easy to set up these days with a load of resources online to guide aspiring entrepreneurs. This article however, zones in on 7 tips for setting up an online business and taking payment that you should know about.

Choose A Platform For Your eCommerce Business

There are many platforms you can use to build your eCommerce site. Some of the most popular include Wix, WooCommerce, and Shopify. These are excellent and provide unique tools tailored explicitly for online businesses. For example, Wix offers a suite of tools for creating short promotional videos. Additionally, they make it easier to incorporate payment systems and gather data from in-built analytics systems. Of course, there is always the option of using standard builders like WordPress. However, unsafe and site-slowing plugins might be encountered.

Tackle A Niche Industry

Of course, it's all about finding a niche that sells when it comes to online business. Finding a niche can be one of the most challenging aspects of eCommerce. A niche is a sector and audience you want to cater to. For example, selling catering equipment is broad, and you could offer essential equipment for making German pastries. Like blogging, you should take the time to find a perfect niche that works for you. If you aren't passionate about your niche, you risk becoming bored. Then you may lose interest before your business starts.

Pay For Or Learn SEO For Better Results

It's pretty much impossible to operate a successful website without search engine optimization (SEO). You have probably heard of SEO but aren't sure what it is. SEO helps search engines like Google place your web pages based on their relevance to user queries. SEO includes:

  • On-page SEO: user-facing information like text format, keywords, and images.

  • Off-page SEO: promotional items such as backlinks.

  • Technical SEO: provides technical information to web crawlers (Robots.txt etc.).

  • Local SEO: location-based details such as street address.

  • eCommerce SEO: customer-focused details such as categories and product images.

SEO is a fantastic tool for attracting customers and growing your web presence. As you may have suspected, it's a complex subject. Of course, it's possible to learn SEO yourself and incorporate it into your business but it may be easier to consult SEO experts and digital marketing agencies who do this on a day-to-day basis.

Setup Multiple Payment Solutions

Not too long ago, online payments were simple. A customer made purchases using a visa credit or debit card and that was pretty much it. Today, there are multiple payment solutions a customer expects from a modern eCommerce site. Of course, traditional card payments are an expectation. However, millennials and the younger generation also expect to pay using virtual currencies and digital wallets. Therefore, you can get ahead of your competition by appealing to a broader audience with multiple payment options such as PayPal, Google Pay, etc

Register Your Company

You are probably aware that you need to register your company when beginning a bricks-and-mortar business. And eCommerce is not different. Limited companies and sole traders alike need to register in the country where they operate. The UK's Company House is a prime example. You can also register as a legal entity for financial transaction security using online systems such as LEI Kart, for example. Business registration also helps government agencies track your company's finance and, ultimately, how much tax you owe.

Promote Your eCommerce Site On Social Media

With billions of users every day, social media also offers easy mass advertising with unmatched potential. Additionally, you can use platform-specific features for people interested in your products which means they are more likely to make a purchase. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow you to engage with customers actively. If you take engagement seriously, you can save on advertising. Your customers will do it for you using tools such as liking and sharing posts; and images across multiple platforms. With that said, it's also a good idea to take advantage of a demand side platform. This will help you find ad placements on other relevant websites.

Implement Customer Service Strategies

With so much to do when running your online business, it's easy to forget about customer service yet almost all of your customers will expect some way to engage with you for feedback, complaints, and common queries. Fortunately, implementing a customer service strategy is easier than ever. If your business is small enough, you can handle customer service using social media or a unique business email. As it grows, however, this can become a challenge. You may outsource services or use Live Chat features like those provided by your site builder.

Summary

Register your company and choose a specific platform for building and hosting to get started. Then find a niche subject and use SEO to attract customers with modern payment options.