If we look at the number of billion dollar companies launched in the last couple of years, many of them are focused around the eCommerce sector, which is why there is also such a huge demand for this market, and innovation is only just taking off.
Business owners who have had some sort of an online presence in the last couple of years will already know, just how profitable it can be to run an eCommerce website that sells or resells products, and despite the fact that there’s lot of profit on the table — it takes more than just a sloppy domain name, an idea and a generic website to be able to gain the right customers.
Check this: 10 Free Open Source Software’s For Building Ecommerce Websites, and also Top 7 eCommerce Shopping Carts for Small Businesses.
Here’s a technical and easily digestable rundown of what to do when launching a new eCommerce website, these are very simple and strategic tips to follow and will allow you to get past the initial launch phases very quickly.
Optimize for Search Engine Growth
When you’re building your eCommerce platform/store, always keep in mind that the open search engine market is still the most viable organic customer source in the world, and oftentimes can generate an income that far exceeds your original expectations. It’s also worth being aware of the fact that there are hundreds of new people entering the market on daily basis, and most of these people will also have some understanding of search engine marketing and how it works, so not only do you need to implement this strategy right away, you need to make sure that you do it right!
Build for User Experience
A large eCommerce store will usually add a significant strain on both the server side of things, as well as the client side. Meaning, it is of the utmost important to create an easily navigable website that allows for a smooth searching experience, as well as a sitemap that can lead to product pages in less than five clicks. You can find plethora of studies online about the fact that the easier it is to use a website, the more likely someone is going to take action on it, which in our case is pressing that buy button.
Tap into Social Media
Three years ago, every marketer out there was talking about social media being the unsalvaged source of traffic, the hidden treasure that so many people ignore, fast forward to this day — social media has become the absolute norm for both global and individual communication between markets, businesses and individuals. In truth, there are far too many potential clients on social media for it to be ignored, and it’s also a great way to seek out potential partnerships with businesses who’d like to take advantage of your new idea.
Tap into Paid Advertising
Sure, free traffic is great and all, but Pay Per Click advertising is where you can quickly turn a few bucks, into a few hundred bucks, and if only to test the viability of your product ideas. The advantage of PPC advertising is that you’ve got the tools and potential to reach out to highly targeted customers (especially these days, where big data really shines with this type of advertising), and so also learn what makes people tick about your products. If you’ve got a bit of dough to invest in this type of advertising, you should definitely do it, since eventually you’ll end up doing it anyway, only from your profits.
Learn to Keep Up
The last thing to know about launching a successful eCommerce website is to keep up with all the latest trends, technology advancements, latest insights and research papers, anything that could potentially teach you more about the ins and outs of eCommerce businesses. While it would be cool to have all the resources listed here, I think we will have to create that idea into a separate post at some time in the future — perhaps at a time where you’ll already have launched your eCommerce website!
Launching a Successful eCommerce Store
I hope that these easy to follow tips will give you a broader perspective of what a successful eCommerce site needs in order to shine through, as beginner friendly as these tips are — there are so many people who avoid even the most simplest of things, and then run around whining on all the eCommerce forums out there, you don’t have to be that guy.. while others are complaining, you could be optimizing and looking for new ways to improve!
