10 Things You Should Do When Starting an Online Store

Starting an online store is one of the easiest ways to do business these days. However, what is tricky is to drive rankings on the search engines, converting the visitors into actual sales and retaining them so that they keep coming back. It is between these points where the success of online business lies.

You can consider these points before starting your own online store. While these steps may not be easy, it will definitely help your e-commerce business to get the throttle it needs!

Choosing the shop’s layout

Don’t be fooled by custom solutions that are built on old codes and are vague in usage. Instead, use an interface that is easy to use and understand and gives you attractive looking online stores. There are also options like WordPress available that give you full control over the underlying systems with paid functionally choice.

Use the optimization technique

Don’t let your page take forever to load. This is the quickest way to lose visitors. This may not be a problem when you use host option for your online shop. You would, however, need to seriously consider the page load speed when using WordPress or other systems that are self hosted.

Always aim for exclusivity

When you are using the same products as hundreds of other suppliers, what you need is a bit of edge to break the clutter around your store. Use different images and descriptions if possible and make your content look unique, even if it is borrowed.

Be aware of the competition

This is not only applicable to eCommerce but every other industry outside of it! The best way to learn about your competition is by doing a preliminary keyword search online. For instance, a simple search like sell my phone will yield a lot of results if you are planning to launch a site for second hand goods or something on the same lines. If the pages that you come across are in a mess, then congratulations, you are in business!

Don’t just sell

Don’t just be another seller online with same old products and similar prices. You need to establish something that gives a lot more value than the product you are selling. Use your knowledge and skills to add some high value content, provide links to your own products and position yourself as a bit of an expert.

SEO is the way to go

eCommerce needs to be more careful about their SEO techniques to be able to make the cut in the online market place. E-stores are more vulnerable to the problems of SEO than a blogger would ever be. Unless you are careful, your page rankings can suffer significantly and by extension your sales too.

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Use customer input to expand page’s content

Your customers and their inputs are the biggest and the most important contributors to your online store, in terms of content. You should allow people to share their views and opinions about the product and encourage more inputs by offering prizes. This will enhance the customer engagement on your webpage.

Implement rich & structured data

This special code adds additional information about the page’s content in regards to the customer reviews, videos etc. You should include this on your page and Google might just pick it up when the page shows in search results.

Start a newsletter

Newsletters are the best way to capitalize on existing users and customers of your portal. When the sale is concluded, prompt them to sign up for your newsletter too for loyalty discounts or other such incentives. Give them rewards when they come back to your page it increases their loyalty!

Use the power of social media

Needless to say, your e-commerce portal needs to be present on Social Media. Give your viewers a sneak-peak into new products, offer them discounts, announce sales etc.
You can also use Pinterest which is being used increasingly these days for increasing sales.

These tips may not be easy to implement but they are definitely a sure fire way to get the ball rolling!

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