Starting your online business is a heavy duty of responsibility. You realize that you have to think about everything in advance, but you practically get lost in it. What should be considered? Most importantly, how to forget? How are risks avoided? We've compiled a handy checklist to help you succeed.
1. Make a business plan
Pay attention to those who say that you can start without a detailed plan. Would you build a house without a plan? It would collapse in a few years. The same is true for e-commerce.
A business plan is a document containing:
● Project description. Type of project, how much will be invested, payback period and profit projection;
● Analysis of a niche and a sphere, taking into account trends, expectations, positive and negative factors;
● Marketing plan: ways you plan to promote and position the company (and associated budget), target audience analysis, pricing argument;
● Competitor analysis: list of main competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, competitive methods;
● Description of the product and sales process (from acquiring suppliers to arranging delivery to customers);
● Operational plan: a complete description of your project, including the resources needed to run the business;
● Financial plan: official calculations of planned activity: number of investments, distribution of funds, planned expenses and incomes for at least one year, efficiency of investment, recovery periods, etc. If you are planning to attract an investor, this chart will be the main part of the business plan.
source: freemalaysiatoday.com
2. Plan your online business structure
● Sole proprietorship is the simplest form. You run your business alone, you make all the decisions and you are responsible for the results;
● LLC – collective ownership of the company. Each partner contributes and participates in the decision-making process;
● Partnership – activities based on a legal agreement. All participants are committed to a common goal: making a profit.
After choosing the business structure, you can declare your activity and proceed to the next step.
3. Choose what you want to sell
Of course, if you've designed your business plan, you already know what to sell, where to order, and at what price to offer it to customers. However, in this case, we are talking about detailed product variety planning, taking into account the characteristics of the products. Make a list of products and learn about conditions from suppliers.
4. Choose an e-commerce platform
After the main processes are planned, you can begin to prepare for the development of the site. Start by choosing an online selling platform. How to proceed:
1. Define the business. A small corner shop or an online supermarket?
2. Consider positioning: Who is your target audience?
3. Evaluate your plan to grow a business.
By answering these questions, you can choose your platform more carefully. You can start selling on the marketplace without creating your own site. For example :
● AliExpress provides easy access conditions, and you need to provide low-cost logistics services for successful business;
● Amazon strictly selects its sellers: the service has high requirements in terms of partners, goods, prices and service quality;
● eBay focuses more on commercial sellers and has strict requirements for them.
You can also create your own website on a special platform. Ratings of the best platforms are compiled annually: choose the appropriate one and specify the terms of integration.
5. Take care of the branding of your website or market profile
Visual branding is the foundation of success. Building a loyal following requires more than just offering great products at affordable prices. You must provide identification and recognition. To create:
• a name;
• a logo;
• a slogan;
• Visual elements.
The endpoint includes the site title, avatars for social media pages, templates for posts, and other details. You can develop them without having design skills: for example, Logaster Logaster logo generator offers a simple step-by-step builder to create a logo and other branding elements.
Remember that your site's appearance should match your niche. For example, choose light colors to sell children's toys and choose a neutral color scheme to sell office equipment.
6. Choose the correct domain name
Ideally, your domain name should match your brand name. But let's be honest: It's almost impossible to register a domain name today with a simple word of 5 to 7 characters. You should look for other options. Don't forget:
● The title should be easy to read;
● The fewer symbols, the better;
● The title should indicate the field of activity;
● SözcüWhen connecting strings, make sure that the domain name is clearly legible;
● Domain names are not case sensitive. For example, www.mondomaine.com, www.mondomaine.com is equivalent to;
● It is highly recommended that you do not register a telescopic domain name with another company's trademark unless you can prove that you are entitled.
7. Create an e-commerce site
If you have chosen a platform, the development process will be reduced to settings for sections and pages to be populated with the right content and elements. Here are some suggestions:
● Create the main sections of the site: “About us”, “Payment and delivery”, “Exchange and return conditions”, “Contact”;
● Sort features by thematic categories for easy selection;
● Upload the necessary documents: “Privacy policy”, “Sales contract” and others, according to your country's legislation;
● Consider creating a blog to attract and retain your audience.
● Each product page must contain a product description (full and technical), a photograph, and a price. It is highly desirable to provide information on availability (number of copies remaining), delivery costs, and provide a link to customer reviews.
8. Customize the shopping cart
This seems like the easiest task. However, even the size of the “cart” button matters in a competitive environment. Here are some guidelines for creating an intuitive interface:
● Easy access to the shopping cart: a large icon and prominent button;
● A convenient and intuitive shopping cart page;
● Possibility to change the order at each stage;
● No hidden fees (price should not change during the transaction);
● Clear user navigation;
● Do not enforce registration;
● Offer alternative ordering methods (eg by phone).
9. Start promotion and advertising
To sell, you need to attract buyers. To do this, you need to develop in two directions:
1. Short-term perspective. Attract customers now with contextual advertising. Create ads, customize targeting, analyze audience and engagement performance. If everything went well, you will receive orders from the first days after the start of the advertising campaign. But remember: as soon as the advertisement stops, the traffic will also stop.
2. Long-term perspective. Work to reference and promote your site on social networks. Unlike expensive contextual advertising, improving your position in search engine results will provide a steady stream of free visitors to your site. You can convert them into customers.
10. Support your business
You don't need to relax even when everything is going well, traffic is increasing and sales figures are positive. In fact, most of the work is yet to come. Here's what you need to do in this step:
● Analyze the site, identify and correct errors in a timely manner;
● Monitor the availability of goods when replenishing inventory;
● Follow trends and innovations, expand your offer;
● Work with customers: respond to reviews, answer questions, etc.;
● To run promotions, contests and other activities;
● Work with analytical data to improve current and future performance.
Çözüm
These 10 steps will help you structure your thinking, prepare to start a business, and feel more comfortable with your job. Of course, this does not guarantee 100% success: a lot depends only on your decisions and actions. Evaluate the market, review every decision and move forward to realize your plans.
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