Starting an online store is super easy. Seriously, if someone tries to charge you thousands of pesos for installing an e-commerce solution, just laugh and run out of there or close the computer (in case it’s a call over the internet). The most difficult thing is getting search engines to index your website (ranking), as well as getting customers to actually buy things (conversion) and buy again (retention).
Here are 10 things you should do or just keep in mind when you start your own online store.
Choose your system carefully
Choose a system that is popular and has a large community that allows you to create functional and attractive stores. If you do not want to get involved with code issues, a hosted platform like, for example, Shopify is one of the best solutions (plans from $ 30 per month for up to 100 products).
In case you like to control all aspects of the site, including your code, choose WordPress with one of its popular e-commerce add-ons, such as Jigoshop, or an open-source e-commerce solution such as OpenCart. Continue reading: How to create a logistics business and distribution company
Optimize, optimize, optimize …
If your website loads slowly, you will inevitably lose customers. In case you have decided on a hosted solution to start your online store, it is not much you can do and probably do not need to do it, but if you have set up a shop on a WordPress or other self-hosted system, the optimization of the speed of Loading your page is absolutely essential.
Be unique
Unless you produce your own products, it is very likely that you are using the descriptions and photographs of products predetermined by others. That’s a bad idea because then your website will have almost the same content as hundreds of other online stores that sell products from the same provider.
At least rewrite all the product descriptions. In addition, we recommend you take your own product photos. In case you follow this last recommendation, you can also use a special jQuery plugin that allows you to rotate 360-degree images. People like to look at products from above, down.
Check the competition
In general, every owner of a website, whether it’s an online store, a blog or a personal page, should know his competition. Simply type in a word, the keyword you plan to use for your store in the Google search field and review the results. If the pages of the results list are poorly designed and obsolete, congratulations, because that means you have the opportunity to overcome the competition quickly and easily, but you will still have to be on the lookout, because at any moment someone with a site much more advanced than yours can enter the market to become your direct competition.
If all the pages on the list are well designed and obviously successful, think about what you can do to be more attractive and competitive.
Selling is not enough
The assortment of online stores is so great, that it is consumers who choose where to shop. Unless you offer a lower price, which is very difficult to do, since almost anyone can start a virtual store at no cost and compete with the undervaluation help, you need to offer more than just an online store. Already established brands can charge more because they already have a loyal customer base.
As a new seller, you have no brand or possibility to offer low prices, so we recommend you use your knowledge and skills to offer more than just a regular store. For example, you can start writing premium entries or reviews that contain links to your own products, and in this way become an expert. Share your knowledge with other members of the community (if there is one) and your visitor base will grow, as well as your loyal customer base.
Pay attention to SEO
For bloggers, there’s no problem, they can develop a blog, write a couple of hundred words of unique content each day, and this is enough to be successful.
Unfortunately, in e-commerce everything is different. Many online stores are struggling to get out of the relegation zone after Google changed its algorithm. Why?
- Product descriptions are usually short. Therefore, search engines identify a small amount of content on the page as “low-quality content”.
- Variations of the same product (that is, this same product in various sizes and colors) can generate unique URLs with duplicate content. All these must be canonical.
- Products in several categories create duplicate URLs; Once again, make sure you use rel-canonical.
- The product categories usually cover several pages and thousands of products. Make sure that all the elements are indexed with the correct use of the rel = next and rel = prev tags.
Ask for help from the client to expand your content
Nowadays, it is not enough to have a product image and its short description … So we invite you to take advantage of a powerful resource that you probably have not used before: your clients. Do not underestimate the desire of people to share their opinions about products, especially if you offer prizes or discounts for the authors of the best reviews.
Each time a user shares a photo with an Instagram tag, this image will appear on the product page. Why limit yourself to a product photo when you can have 20?
Newsletter
The newsletter is the secret weapon of electronic commerce. Since, at the time of completing the order, you can ask the user to subscribe to the newsletter; even check this option by default. Make sure to highlight the subscription option on the home page. This form should be easy to complete and offer something to complete (for example, a discount coupon).
Within a week, send a reminder and ask one of your customers to write a review or add some photos of the product purchased. Do you know that eBay and Amazon do this?
Data and structured videos
Structured data or rich snippets are special codes that are added to a page to describe their type of content; This description may include videos or customer reviews. When you insert the code in your page, Google will use it (of course there is no 100% guarantee) when the page appears in the search results.
Social networks
Everyone has a profile on Facebook, and your store is no exception. It is another direct marketing tool that you should use to interact with customers, answer their questions openly and publicly, offer information about the products you will sell in the future and promote discounts.
It is necessary to integrate a set of buttons of social network actions in each of the pages of your online store.
“Hayzedmagazine” also invited you to read this article “How To Do A Brand Registration” for your online store: http://amateurs-paradise.com/brand-registration/
Finally
Undoubtedly, starting a successful online store is not like ABC, but these tips will help you make the right first steps. Luck!
Tags: create your own online store, online business, online store, own online store
