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Creating an online store is simple. However, creating a successful eCommerce website requires a more complex approach, one that takes dedication, planning, and proper execution. Today we’ll share 10 tips for launching a successful eCommerce website for your brand.
Whether you are opening an online store as a side gig, or it’s part of your bigger business growth plan, understanding how you can build and run a successful online store is essential. You need to know where to start and how to manage the process of launching an effective site.
Luckily, nowadays, you don’t need a lot of money, time and technical expertise to launch an eCommerce website. You can use various online tools and platforms to get started with your online shop. However, focusing on developing your eCommerce website to be profitable and with a high-quality user experience should be your main goal.
Below are 10 crucial steps for a successful eCommerce store launch.
Selecting The Right Product To Sell
The first step is figuring out the right product to sell. Whether you’re selling multiple products on your online store or just one, developing a complete research process of your product and the right audience is a must. Moving on to an in-depth research of the competition, shipping costs, and pricing to start selling those products on your website should follow. We’ll talk more on research techniques and steps ahead.
Another great way to find profitable products is by analyzing what other eCommerce stores are selling. To find the right product line, you should check out online communities, trends and interests of people. One of the best ways to discover the right products for your online store is by going through various social media pages, blogs, sales reports and more in hopes of understanding current popular products.
Selecting An eCommerce Platform
Your next step will be building an eCommerce website. Nowadays, there’s countless platforms where you can establish your store, so choosing the right one, with the right tools, which adapts to your business plan is key. You must know whether you want a self-hosted site or you want to use SaaS platforms. If you want to create a self-hosted website with complete control, then options like WordPress with WooCommerce or Shopify are at the top of the list.
These two platforms offer unlimited designs and enhanced functionality of your website, depending on your requirements. However, there are other platforms such as Wix, and Squarespace that can be an excellent choice for building an eCommerce website. Breaking down the functionalities, hosting power, and added features are just a few of the things you should consider when choosing the platform that fits your needs.
Research Shipping Options And Costs
Most online stores face problems when it comes to shipping options and costs. Let’s face it, a high amount of products are profitable because of low shipping costs. If you are paying high shipping costs, then you will find it difficult to make your business profitable. Various shipping companies like FedEx and UPS already have pre-established costs depending on the weight of the product and its final destination. Choosing the right option for your delivery and shipping processes can be extremely beneficial for your online store.
The most essential part of running an online store is getting the final product to your customers safe and sound. Some online stores are already implementing the high cost of shipping onto their customers, adding a noticeable increase to the product’s final cost. This inadvisable practice can be fatal for your business and the general outlook of your brand.
Around 45% of customers don’t go through the checkout process after recognizing the higher shipping costs of the products. However, as an eCommerce store with shipping flexibility, lowering shipping costs and adjusting the price of the products is always a recommended choice. Offering a flat shipping fee can also be a great way to increase the number of orders and provide a more streamlined user experience.
Have A Strong Brand
This is where a lot of online stores make mistakes. Branding is very important when you are starting an online store. The most essential parts of a strong brand is making sure it is memorable, aligns with the company goals, is usable, and is positioned correctly in the market.
To avoid competitor confusion, make sure to register and trademark your brand’s name (or at the very least something that connects the name as closely as possible) with a working domain, necessary social media handles, and other important information where it could be seen by potential customers online. Visually, having a logo and a color combination that resonates with your target market as well as your product is another crucial step in the branding process.
Good Selection Of Payment Gateways
Another important factor to be considered is the selection of payment gateways. When you are starting an eCommerce business, you should set up proper payment methods for your customers. You should be able to collect payments via credit cards and utilize this payment method by having a merchant account.
You can enable multiple payment gateways such as Shopify Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Stripe or Square. Having a wide variety of payment gateways gives customers multiple options for completing the checkout process, making the purchase process and the user experience smoother.
An online store with multiple payment gateway options opens the door to those that have payment preferences. If the checkout process is difficult due to payment issues, it can result in low conversion rates and an increase in abandoned carts.
Securing Your Website
As a website owner, dealing with security issues can be a nightmare. Security should be the top priority for your business. Securing your website and your eCommerce platform as soon as possible is important to avoid potential hacks and threats.
Your first step should be activating an SSL certificate on your website. Most web hosting services offer SSL as well as other advanced security measures. For an eCommerce website, SSL is necessary as it encrypts the sensitive information that is shared on your website when someone makes a purchase. Using a strong password and two-step verification for your platform’s access can also decrease uninvited access to your site.
If you are using WordPress, you must consider installing a few security plugins that will secure your website. Make sure to use security and backup plugins so you don’t end up losing your data in case of a hacking attempt.
Taking detailed and early security measures for your eCommerce store is a critical step in the success of your site.
Deploy A Strong SEO Strategy
When you are building an eCommerce website, you must deploy a powerful SEO strategy. SEO has a similar importance for every online business, so you must consider improving all aspects of an SEO strategy, including on-page and off-page SEO.
You must focus on on-page product SEO, making sure to optimize product titles and descriptions to improve search visibility. It is important to focus on creating unique SEO implementations for your product such as its descriptions, image alt text, and more.
Off-page SEO is just as important as it can create lasting foundations to your site. This includes the application of valuable backlinks with a high domain ranking (DA) back to your site, which will tell search engines that your site is worthy of being linked to other reputable sources. Creating detailed, and most importantly white-hat SEO techniques back to your eCommerce website can help promote your store and create site conversions.
Promoting Your Online Store
Your main focus and main goal of maintaining an eCommerce website is to generate as many leads and sales as possible. Once you have built your website, you need to focus on promoting your online store via various mediums. Make sure to develop a good marketing strategy that will help promote your online business to the right audience.
After building an online store, you need to optimize your website and focus on lead generation. You can create campaigns that can bring back traffic back, these can include social media organic and paid content, running targeted ads that improve the lead generation process, and implementing a strong SEO strategy, as mentioned earlier.
A fool proof marketing strategy will bring qualified traffic back to your site and help increase the number of visitors and orders.
Use High-Quality Product Photos
When you are uploading products, you should never ignore the small details. Product images are extremely important. It is vital to use high-quality product images for all your listings. High-quality product images will help your SEO strategy as well, helping search engines understand what the photos entail, as well as helping the website increase its loading times.
High-quality photos not only help the technical side of the site, it also shows potential customers what the product is in a clear and easy way, ultimately promoting a healthy user experience. For best photo results, we recommend compressing all photos and uploading it with the right size and in a format that search engines can crawl easier, such as Webp.
Final Thoughts
When you want to launch a successful eCommerce website, you need to focus on selecting the right platform. Make sure to build a long-term strategy so you can pick the right website builder. You should be clear about the future and pick the platform that will help you expand your operations easily without having to move to another host or platform.
It is important to keep in mind all the factors that play a huge role in the success of an online store. Make sure to pick the right products and optimize your online store using the strategies we have explained. That’s our step by step guide for the successful launch of your eCommerce website.
If you’re looking for dependable web designers to help you get started, we are here to help. Contact us today and let’s get your eCommerce store launched!
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