Want to Start Selling Online?
Easy enough… just build a website and start selling.
- OK… maybe there are a couple of steps in between.
Where to begin?
- What and how are you selling? Products, services, recurring, subscriptions, memberships?
- What platforms are available?
- How do I customize the site, and brand it to make it look like my business?
- How do I make it my own? https://www.MY-MYBUSINESS.com
What are you selling?
You can sell anything online, and there are lots of venues to sell even outside of setting up your eCommerce store (eBay, Etsy, Amazon, etc…), but let’s stick with your primary store for now.
You might be selling, coffee, t-shirts, consulting services, e-learning, real-estate, co-working, toys, software services, etc. The list is endless, but if you can “package” a product, you can sell it.
To get you started, let’s think about selling shipped items (coffee), or downloadable/online services (e-learning), or services (consulting time).
When you know your market, it’s easier to focus on how to sell to that audience, and what products and services you’ll list of your store. Start small, and manageable, and grow your site as needed.
- What do you need to say about your products?
- What images best represent your products?
- How about pricing?
- Are you selling a Recurring subscription service?
And just know this, that your site need NOT be static. It can change frequently, and really should change as you grow and try to reflect the needs of your customers. Now, this certainly does not mean redesigning the site every 2-3 months, but it DOES mean updating content, posting new blogs and articles, new images, customer stories, testimonials. And… don’t be afraid to help guide your customer through the shopping workflow, as your base grows, and you understand your customer’s needs better.
The list of eCommerce tools
There are many frameworks/tools to choose from, with a lot of out-of-the-box platforms to help you quickly get up and running (no need to create a custom Shopping Platform anymore).
Some of these might take more setup, others less, and depends on if you want to have a VERY UNIQUE style, or if you’re OK with an off-the-shelf template, and just work towards matching your company branding with colors, your logo, and your store specific story.
I recommend starting with a template, as this will save you lots of time, cost, and keep you from being overwhelmed at the start.
The following are some of the most popular platforms:
- Shopify
- WordPress using Woocommerce Plugin
- Bigcommerce
- Square
- Squarespace (ok, this is NOT Square, confused?)
- Weebly
Setup and customize your store:
You can have your storefront set up and running quickly, but you might need assistance with any the following:
- How will the customer navigate your store? What menu options should you list (keep this small, so your customer isn’t overwhelmed or confused at the start)
- If you don’t currently have a web address, then how will you acquire one and point it to your store?
- How can you build a more customized look and feel?
- How will you charge customers, and accept a variety of billing methods?
- How might you integrate eCommerce into an existing website?
- How will you build out products, and upload product images?
- How can you further enhance your store by integrating additional 3rd party plugins, or implement custom add-on features?
- How will you build a customer base and keep them updated with new products and services? (e.g. Consider building a Mailchimp campaign)
Get ready to sell!
With the advent of Software as a Service (SaaS) eCommerce platforms, you can be up and selling in a snap, but if you have trouble figuring out some of the steps, working with the back-end technologies, or need assistance customizing, we can help you.