How to start your own Online Business? Part 2
Perhaps you might think that only a select few or well-rounded people can lead an online business. But it's just a mistaken notion that you must put away. In our article "How to start your own Online Business?", where you can discover that you might already have an entrepreneur string in your heart, and all you need is to start work in that direction.
This article is a direct continuation of that post, where you'll find the rest of the tips on what steps you should take as a new ecommerce business owner.
STEP #4 Choosing an online platform
As you've already read the first part and have a more or less clear vision of your final product for sale; have already started looking for a supplier; compose a portrait of your ideal customer. We've already talked about how to go through these steps most efficiently and with the least number of obstacles. After that, it's logical that you're facing one of the essential steps and in creating an online store - choosing the right ecommerce platform for your website.
Certainly, without practical experience, you can quickly get confused or make mistakes and start building your business "in the wrong place." In the article "Current benefits of basing your online store on the Magento platform," we have pictured all the necessary information about the Magento platform for ecommerce purposes. We have huge experience working with Magento and Magento 2, and our opinion claims to be an expert. That's why we can advise you to pay attention to this ecommerce platform, due to its reliability and convenience.
Customers' experience in using ecommerce platforms can be considered one of the most reliable sources for its evaluation. In our article "Brands of all sizes and all industries that use the Magento ecommerce platform," you'll find the list of many world-famous brands that choose Magento.
STEP #5 Adding products to the website
It seems we don't need to say that you should devote a lot of attention to the functionality and appearance of the online store. The website's image is the first thing your potential buyer comes into contact with. Certainly, thanks to the significant amount of simple and ready-to-use design templates for Magento stores, we won't dwell on this point too long. Everyone can find a design solution precisely for their needs. Firstly, the main thing is to make the design extremely simple, intuitive, and functional. In any case, a specifically created logo and relevant Homepage will give the store its uniqueness.
Other articles you may like:
- Why Online Business Branding is important.
- How to Design an Online Store Website. Mageside experience.
- How to Design a Logo: tips and tricks from Mageside experience.
Instead, we would like to take a close look at the task of filling the web pages with products and other content. It becomes relevant after you have passed all the previous stages. The more responsible you are at this, the more successful you will be.
Currently, the minimum information used before isn't enough to describe a product that will be competitive. Photos, names, price, description, etc., have already become the essential, necessary components of any product. In the article "How to do SEO for a Magento 2 website? The visual component of the website. Part 2.", we advise you to think ahead for SEO possibilities as we've observed all types of visual content components in detail, created a checklist for designing a video review for a product and a service, and attended the possibility of using 360 ° photos and infographics in the online stores.
The specificity of online stores is that the buyer cannot examine the subject of his purchase in a tactile manner. All those features can help the buyer understand the product better and, as a result, fade out any misdoubt before the purchase. Your task is to provide maximum information through the screen, sound, and text. Use it wisely to convert website visitors to customers.
STEP #6 Set up the payment and delivery methods
After completing the stage of adding products, you can proceed with payment functionality. The most important thing here should be simplicity and convenience to the buyer. Ideally, the checkout process should take no more than 2 minutes. It's advisable to add the function of determining the city for delivery automatically so that buyers can see the cost of delivery to their region.
The online store should allow customers to choose the appropriate payment method. The most common payment methods for purchases in the online store are:
- cash on delivery;
- credit or debit card;
- digital wallets;
- bank transfer.
For the convenience of customers, we recommend setting up several delivery methods. To do this, you need to identify the most popular transportation companies in your country. On the website, highlight the most convenient delivery methods for the client. Let your customer choose their best option to receive the order.
Other articles you may like:
- Mageside joins Stripe partner program! Stripe Payments extension
- How to organize cheaper packaging for goods
- Best Canada Post Shipping extension for Canada Post delivery
STEP #7 Making an online store profitable
Perhaps the most exciting point. As soon as your store begins to receive a sufficient number of orders to recoup the promotion costs and order processing, we can congratulate you for completing the most challenging stage of launching an online store.
But don't forget that, as in any other business, you need to monitor and control its performance. That is to say, there are many useful tools like Google Analytics, Google ads, etc. It would be a good practice to learn how to use analytics effectively and, based on it, expand promotion channels, try new ideas, and improve your performance with other channels.
We wish you success!