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How To Start An E-Commerce Business Using 5 Easy Steps

Author: Steve Smith

The trace of e-commerce business was pretty thin and non-existent, even in 2010. However, since then, the marketing scenario has changed massively. Now, standing in 2021, almost every one of us is buying everything through the internal. And, for good reasons as well.

For instance, before the inception of online marketplaces, you had to go out of your house to buy whatever you needed. So, to some extent, it was a waste of time and money (if you had to travel too far).

However, you can get whatever you have ordered without moving an inch from your house with the online business structures.

Due to this reason, the popularity of online businesses is increasing amongst both consumers and entrepreneurs. Hence, like many others, if you, too, are considering going with the hype, we’d definitely encourage you to do so.

Nonetheless, before you jump on the train, we’d like to guide you through the online strategies to develop your business efficiently. So, without making any further ado, let’s begin!

Starting An E-Commerce Business – A Step-By-Step Guide

When starting their first business venture, most novice entrepreneurs tend to be unsure where to begin. So, if you consider yourself to be one of them, this guide would be ideal for you.

Step – 1: Choose Your Niche Or Service Carefully

First things first, when you are starting a business, you must choose your product carefully. If you ask us, we would suggest you perform the necessary research on your preferred niche as well. This way, you can understand the –

  • Available trends in your niche market
  • Your competitors and the business strategies they are using
  • The selling and consumer engagement strategies used by the businesses
  • The business model that works best for your niche

The recent growth of the e-commerce and online delivery industry will benefit any business beginning its journey. However, if you don’t want to get entangled in the never-ending web of competition, performing prior research on your industry can be vital to succeeding.

Step – 2: Select A Platform

So, once you have selected your niche, we ask you to choose a platform for your business as well. However, there are too many options available out there. So, we’ll be noting down a few of them for your convenience –

  • Shopify for an affordable beginning and more customization options
  • Wix for building your website in a modernized manner
  • WooCommerce for including a shopping cart with your already-existing website
  • Square for selling your products and services in-person
  • BigCommerce for catering to a wide array of consumers
  • Ecwid for beginning with a free-of-cost plan

Once you have grown your business adequately, you may also begin creating your own website to boost your brand awareness even more.

Step – 3: Create Your Service Pages Separately

Have you created your website already? Then, we would ask you to start fleshing out your service or product pages. For example, if you provide different types of packaged goods through your website, you’ve to create separate pages for them.

Here, you must add a wide array of details, such as –

  • Product descriptions
  • Specifications and details regarding an item
  • Selling points

Additionally, it’d also be better for the consumers if they could change the colour, quantity, or style. Finally, keep in mind, your product pages will provide you with the final chance to sell your products. So, make sure to be as detailed as possible without making things too dull.

Pro Tip: Personalize the product description section of your website. Using the provided manufacturer description will increase the risk of plagiarism and hurt your website’s SEO.

Step – 4: Focus On Marketing

Marketing your products in a proper manner will either make or break the growth potential of your business. So, you have to work in this segment as purposefully as possible. Here are some tips that may help you in this regard –

  • Write niche-specific content on your website to grab your audience’s attention and generate traffic.
  • Use Facebook Ad tools to promote your business on social media platforms.
  • Add CTAs (call-to-action) at the right place.
  • Continuously optimize your user experience.
  • Use both online and offline strategies to boost your marketing performance even more.
  • Focus more on authenticity to build relationships with your audience.
  • Make performance analysis segments of your advertising campaigns to learn what’s wrong or right with them.
  • Take the help of social media influencers to increase your consumer base even more affluently.
  • Send news and updates regarding your organization regularly to your consumers.

The online marketing cosmos is pretty volatile and unpredictable. Therefore, if you want to succeed in this segment, you’ll have to create new plans and adapt to recent trends and technologies.

Step – 5: Set Up A Check-Out Plan For Your Business

The overall shopping process can significantly impact your consumer’s overall experience. So, you have to focus on it and ensure that everything’s working as smoothly as possible.

In our opinion, you should avoid asking your consumers about their email every time they try to buy something. It can deter many people from buying anything for you.

Instead, make the whole buying process more manageable and utilize different online payment options, such as PayPal, Google Pay, or Apple Pay.

Keep the email section at the below section of your page to avoid obstructing anyone’s sight. If someone wants to get connected, they will offer their email accordingly.

Finishing It Up!

Congratulations, now you are ready to begin your venture in the vast online marketing industry!

However, if you’re just starting up, you might experience various challenges initially. So, we would ask you to follow our guide closely and be patient in your endeavour.

In addition, you must also try to improve your business in any way possible. It may include eye-catching web design, consistent branding, following the trends, etc.

Finally, try to make sure that all of your required boxes are checked before you begin your business. This way, it will be easier for you to succeed as a business owner and promote the growth of your online store.

Author Bio

Steve Smith is a professional blogger. He is open to take on new challenges in writing different niches and areas of the industry. He has been with LawyersNote , OkayMagazine GlobalBusinessDairy,and TheCasinomagazine to write content and blogs on different niches like Technology and Digital Marketing. Steve Smith believes that if an individual has the correct information at the right time, they can achieve every feat.

5 Tips on Online Marketing with Web Design for Small Businesses

Author: David Anderson

There are billions of searches that search engines like Google and Bing get on a daily basis from consumers across the world. According to research, around 97 percent of consumers research their required products or services online to find local options or to check reviews. As a small business owner, you should know that your website is likely one of the first things that most consumers will notice about it.

On the basis of its design and features, a lot of people will form opinions and decide whether to make a purchase or leave. Think of your web page as a promotional tool or platform through which you can create brand awareness and experience growth.

If you want to achieve the desired results with online marketing, you need to focus on the web design and invest in it. Here are some tips that could be useful for increasing the reach of your small business.

  1. Reduce Loading Time and Friction

When you are involved in the designing process of the website, it is important to keep in mind that visitors judge your brand through your website. Make sure you have your logo plastered on every page, which you can easily get from a professional logo design website.

Moreover, the loading speed of your website should be within seconds. Large image files, lots of videos or animations and flashy design elements can slow down the web page and take longer to appear. This could result in visitors closing it and moving away to a competitor.

Your website only needs to have relevant content and visuals which include your brand logo, portfolio of work or product images, and interactive call-to-actions. This way, there is minimal clutter and you can reduce any friction which can prevent consumers from navigating to another link or category. The audience today has many options and an attention span that lasts about 8 seconds.

In order to make sure that they remain on your page and market your products or services to them, you should optimize the website for less loading time. It is also crucial to get rid of elements which cause friction so it’s easier for people to interact and take the required action.

  1. Use Clear and Original Images

The product catalog and imagery on your website is one of the most critical factors in web design. As a small business owner, you need to attract the attention of the visitors with the images on your website. It’s how you can market what you have to offer effectively and convince people of your authenticity as well.

One of the best ways that you can make the most of your web page is by using clear and original pictures of products or your work. While there is nothing wrong with picking stock images and using them, original photos go a long way in online marketing. They can set your business apart from the others and highlight its unique factor to the audiences.

With stock pictures, you may end up appearing similar to the others as another website might have the same one. To avoid this, you can use a small part of your marketing budget to hire a professional photographer and use those images for the catalog or the main page.

  1. Add Home Page Scrolling

While you want to keep all the information compact and make it easier for the website to load faster, you can still create an interactive home page. Previously, WordPress expert designers and brand owners paid a lot of attention to engaging consumers above the fold. Now, it is actually considered good web design when people can easily scroll down and find relevant information and options beyond the first two folds of the web page.

By adding home page scrolling to your website, you can include more CTAs (call-to-actions), images and contact information to help visitors find what they want. There are a lot of websites of small businesses such as Birchbox which have an attractive home page design going below the fold.

  1. Incorporate Social Sharing Buttons

This is actually very important and can boost the credibility of a website and create awareness as well. Incorporating the share link or blog feature on social media networks such as Twitter, Instagram or Facebook is always a good idea for online marketing. This way, you can make it easier for people to post your blog or promote a particular product to their followers or friends.

If you take the example of Soko Glam, you will see how the Korean Skincare brand has used this to their advantage. In their web design, the company has included an option to share their blogs in ‘The Klog’ section and within their product listings as well.

  1. Have an FAQ Section

There are a number of people who go through the FAQ section of a website before sending in queries or contacting the company. By including the section in your web design, you can provide a good user experience to the consumers and give them the answer to the basic questions related to pricing, shipping or brands.

Nowadays, almost all big and small websites feature an FAQ section in the menu bar or within the footer. This helps people find it quickly and go through the relevant information.

To Sum Up

These are some of the tips for online marketing with web design that could help take your small business to the next level. If you apply them and make improvements in your website, you could generate higher traffic and boost conversions as well. While designing a web page, it is a good idea to keep a few of these in mind so that your website can compete with bigger brands in the digital world.

Author Profile

David Anderson is a business graduate with a marketing major. He specializes in communication design and has helped many brands achieve their goals in marketing communication. Now he writes for freelance clients on topics related to brand design, visual communication, and marketing.