Table of Contents
Entrepreneurs are always looking for online business ideas capable of generating significant revenue. In order to start an online business, you want an eCommerce platform that allows you to build your store online, with your website, and offline at a reasonable price. Even though you don’t need a technical background to set up and run such website builders, sometimes it is best to hire Shopify developers so that they can customize your store for you and increase sales.
Given below are the steps to set up an online business with minimal cash investment that will generate a high ROI and give you the satisfaction of being the boss of your enterprise.
Determine What to Sell
Your online store should aim to sell products without having to maintain a warehouse full of goods. When a customer makes a purchase, you can buy the product from a third-party company called the drop shipper for a lower price.
The drop shipper is typically a manufacturer or a whole seller, so you are basically forwarding the order from your customer to the drop shipper who ships the product. The following tips will help you build an online store and determine what products to sell.
- You need an eCommerce platform that allows you to build your online store for successful dropshipping
- If you hire Shopify developers, they will definitely make it easy for you to build the website of your online store
- You can sell baby products, clothing, cosmetics, books, toys, jewelry, tools, sports equipment, essentials, appliances, electronics, furniture, mattress, cookware, dining ware, groceries, home improvement, and home decor items through your online store
- You can check out the ‘best-sellers list’ of popular online stores and the ‘customer also bought’ section to help you decide what to sell
- Most popular online stores have an intelligence tool that allows you to investigate popular products via keywords
- You should consider the seller fees and shipping costs while deciding what products to sell
Undertake Market Research
It is important for firms to undertake market research. The global revenue of the market research industry has exceeded 73.4 billion U.S. dollars. 47% of the market researchers worldwide are using big data analytics. 64% of respondents during a survey stated that they were using mobile-first surveys to conduct market research. You can undertake market research in the following ways.
- You can use the Google Keyword Planner to see whether the products you want to have enough search volume to know if there is a demand for them
- It might be difficult for you to beat the competition and achieve the desired sales if the goods under consideration have too many search results, so you have to find a niche within the market
- Market research proves that if people have to type-specific keywords to search for your products, they are more likely to buy them
- You can conduct a keyword search on some popular online stores that show you the monthly sales in addition to displaying products with low competition
- To know the recent and historical sales of the products, you can check out the ‘best seller’s rank’ of popular online stores
- Ensure that all the items that you want to sell under a particular sales category have good rankings so that you know that all the products from the category are in demand
- If you find that the consumers are not showing a preference for one particular brand of a product, but are willing to experiment with different brands, that is a big plus for you
Choose the Right eCommerce Platform
An eCommerce platform allows businesses to manage their website, marketing, sales, and operations. Business owners need different solutions like CRM, business intelligence tools, accounting software, and reporting suites. These solutions have to be integrated into eCommerce sites to save the business owner cost and time. The following points tell you more about eCommerce platforms.
- eCommerce sites can be self-hosted or cloud-hosted
- In the case of self-hosted eCommerce platforms, the store owners have to find hosting, deal with installations and even update the software manually
- Cloud-hosted eCommerce platforms have features like online payment, integration, inventory management, reliable server technology resources, and expert security compliance
- Not every cloud-hosted eCommerce platform offers automatic installation of patches, updates, and upgrades, but they are still useful since cloud-hosted eCommerce platforms are ideal for small online store owners who have no eCommerce development experience
- Your chosen eCommerce platform should definitely be equipped with analytics tools
- If you hire Shopify developers, you don’t have to worry about technical glitches that can arise during the course of building and operating the website of your online store
- Even though it is best if the eCommerce platform is mobile-friendly, some designs that may be used to create a store may not be mobile friendly
Set Up, Create and Launch Your Online Store
You have to choose a niche in order to set up an online store. The products you focus on and the customers you try to attract depend on your niche. You can use the following tips to set up, create and launch your online store.
- You have to develop a business plan. For this, you have to identify goals associated with products that you intend to sell and then develop strategies. Planning is important since companies that have a business plan grow faster than companies that don’t have a plan
- You have to select your domain name The domain name should be easy to pronounce and you should check it for trademarks to avoid legal conflicts. The domain name should be unique and you should include location and niche specific keywords
- You should choose a domain name extension that is easy and popular
- Pick your eCommerce website builder and design the look of your online store
- If you hire Shopify developers, you don’t have to worry about website development at all
- You can add products to your online store and set up shipping
- The final step is marketing your online store and launching it with great fanfare.
Drive Traffic to Your Online Store
One of the first steps to driving traffic to your online store is to build a website that people want to visit. By driving traffic to your site, you can improve your rank and increase your conversion rate by attracting the right kind of customers. Improved ranking will further encourage more people to visit your site. The following tips help you drive traffic to your online store.
- Google AdWords is the fastest way to drive traffic to your online store
- Advertising on social media, blogging about your store, posting online ads and emailing your prospective customers is some of the ways of increasing traffic to your website
- When you post on social media make sure to include hashtags
- Including a call-to-action on every page encourages people to visit your site
- You should optimize your free google business profile since it provides all the information the customers need to make a decision.
- You can get listed in free online directories and review sites. Your profile on these sites will have a link to your website, so it will automatically drive traffic to your site.
- You can add backlinks to your website from complementary businesses or industry influencers so google picks up on the backlinks and trusts your business more
- Remember to use landing pages and long-tailed keywords to drive traffic to your site.
Final Thoughts
It is a misconception that only people with deep pockets can start a profitable online business since it is clear from the write-up that it is possible to start an online business with minimal cash investment that is affordable even to the common man. eCommerce business owners need to focus on marketing, merchandising, designing great products, and generating sales.
If you hire Shopify developers, you can quit worrying about website development and all the technical glitches that can arise during the course of setting up an online store. You can focus mainly on launching your store, marketing, and increasing sales.
Disclaimer: For more interesting articles visit Business Times.
