A Definitive Guide to Build an Online Store for Small Businesses

Spreading the word about your business and products has never been easier! We have to be happy that we live in the time of Internet because we can advertise our services globally and conduct business with every part of the world – and this is truly a blessing!

Creating an online store in 2018 might turn your small business into an internationally known brand. We want to help you in this aspect and for this reason we’ve created this list containing the most important steps when setting up an online store for small businesses. Follow them wisely and success will be just a matter of time!

Steps to Build an eCommerce Shop!

Research Your Business Models:

This step is of most importance for every business sector and company nowadays. While growing your customer base and involving more and more in marketing you’ll have to answer a couple of business defying questions like “What is your target customer?” , “What is your profit margin?” or “How will you involve customers and gain revenue?”.

Deep research is decisive as you may use an already known business model that has stood against the test of time or create a custom one that should serve perfectly for your business niche and offerings.

Choose the Best eCommerce Platform:

The globally free market created a wide gamma of services that everybody can use. The same applies for the eCommerce platform, which is the most effortless option to grow your sales. Many of the popular platforms would work, but choosing the right one is essential.

Building an eCommerce Store with Shopify might be one of the easiest approaches towards international sales. Shopify starts cheap and is a fully hosted eCommerce solution that requires just a simple log in. The main good features about Shopify are that no programming knowledge is needed and you can sign up for a trial before you invest anything.

Build your eCommerce Website:

Don’t settle with sales only in Sydney – go for global fame! After choosing the correct eCommerce platform you need to arrange some website- specific questions. Selecting the right web hosting is as important as choosing the right domain name that describes your business. As a webshop, your domain will be the main identity and should be easily remembered by your target audience.

Your website must use a modern layout and implement an alluring responsive design, in order to grab the customer’s attention. With Shopify, you can create a broad eCommerce website that will be easy accessible from your customers.

Integrate Payment Module:

It is always better to include as many payment options as possible. If you are looking for international sales this is crucial as the popular payment options vary from country to country. If you are focusing on a single country, like Australia for example, you’ll need to research your competitors and see what payment options are popular with them. Be aware that they come with different fees, so look into that.

When it comes to security the common eCommerce platforms have you covered as they all administer SSL Certificates. This is a huge benefit because this certificate secures all the information communicated through your webshop.

Attract and Convert Visitors into customers:

We already mentioned that, in order to attract visitors your online store needs to have a nice design that is user friendly. Other ways that will come in handy are creating a Landing page and being active on Social Media. Proper SEO Optimization is important because most online sales start with a simple Google search.

Converting these visitors into customers is probably the trickiest part. This is assisted by user friendly call-to-action (CTAs) features, optimized opt-in forms, customer testimonials or case studies. We cannot underestimate common factors and methods like fast website speed, improving customer service or optimizing your email campaigns.

Manage Orders and Shipment:

Managing orders and shipment without mistakes or unnecessary delays is crucial for building a base of loyal customers. Even if you want to work only in Australia your order and delivery -related features need to be top notch! You need to test all the offered features before starting any sale.

Even if you had problems until now, you can always improve your customer’s shipping experience. One thing that makes a good impression is end-to-end order visibility and tracking. Customer communication is vital as every client appreciates when they are fully aware of any problems that may occur and where is their product.

Market Products Online and Build Brand Reputation:

Building Brand Reputation comes as the last step in our list, but is one of the most important factors for a big volume of sales. Even if you offer something unique – it will be nothing without the proper marketing actions. Modern product marketing methods rely heavily on Social Media and you should believe in their power.

After choosing the right platform, you need to build a social network that will co-promote your services. In order to make this happen, your content needs to be “Like” and “Share” worthy. Collecting constructive feedback and improving your customer service will always be a perfect way to build a positive business image.

Use Analytics and Other Metrics:

We all want our eCommerce shop to be a huge success but this doesn’t happen overnight. Once you’ve completed all the necessary tasks and your online store is alive you need to be on the lookout for feedback and alter features if necessary. Good choices are not always the first decisions that we make.

Use different metrics like the number of unique visitors, popular products, conversion rate and average revenue per client to analyze your operation and be ahead of time in terms of needed changes. Eventually, you will know your target audience by tracking how they interact with your online shop.

Conclusion:

Nowadays setting up an online store for your Small Business is a piece of cake and requires no programming or marketing education. Nevertheless, some rules have emerged and all business owners need to follow them in order to succeed.

In this article, we’ve gathered some good ideas and tips that you should follow if you’re building an eCommerce store with Shopify or some of the other popular platforms. If you’re a beginner in this field a good advice is to act in accordance with our steps. That way you will not miss or misinterpret a task that might be important. Big sales are just a couple of clicks away!