Online stores or shopping websites are not a new concept.
We already have thousands of them and more thousands of them are going to come up in the future.
But it’s not about starting and online shopping store, it’s about turning out profitable online shopping business.
In as much as online shopping business is a very lucrative internet business model I have seen many online shopping stores that are just existing and not really succeeding. I believe that these tips will help anyone run a successful and profitable online shopping site.
1. Catchy Domain Name:
This is the first basic thing. Your domain name should be short, catchy and must be a .com domain.
Take a look at all the big online shopping websites. Amazon, Ebay, Jumia, Konga, Etsy, Shopica, etc. They all have one thing in common. The names are short, memorable, easy for clients to refer to and so on.
Never ever use a .net or any other thing for God’s sake for a shopping website. Use the .com and secure and redirect the other extensions to your .com online store.
2. Narrow Your Niche
Unless you have heavy funding, it will be difficult trying to joggle everything and sell every product. The only way you are going to overcome business competition from the big players is to narrow your niche.
Sell one range of product alone and when you have built a following, you can add one and then another and then another, depending on your clients demands.
3. Make Your Site Design Look Professional
Do not leave the design of your online store to amateur web designers. Take a look at your competitors and be sure you have something looking like a serious business person from the beginning.
4. Best Shopping Carts
If you chose to build your online shopping website yourself, then consider the platform best for a professional, scalable online shopping business. From experience we recommend WordPress Woocommerce or Open Cart.
5. Exceptional Customer Support
Be sure to install some sort of online support and provide exceptional support to your users. This is what is lacking in this part of the world and if you care enough about your clients, your business will grow.
Reply to customer emails, calls and inquiries no matter how stupid they sound.
6. Deliver Products on Time
Customers hate it when your advert says next day delivery and they have to call you and wait one week plus before getting their orders. If you run out of stock, be the one making the calls and explaining the situation and offering support and even next purchase coupons and discounts.
7. Plan to Do Some Great Marketing
No mater how small your budget is, you need to spend in marketing. You may have a great looking online shopping website or store but if people do not know about you, then you do not exist.
There are a couple of cheap traffic sources you should explore and get started.
8. Beg Websites to Write About You
When people search your domain on Google, search results return comments and write-ups about your business or store to them. The more you have reviews on other websites, not your own website testimonials, the better you will get profitable.
Find out a couple of websites and have them write about you. It’s called sponsored post or promotion. You will have link backs and over time boost your website traffic.
9. Invest in SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
There are many people who can help you for a fee and build backlinks for your online store, write keyword rich articles and blast on article directories and perform other kinds of SEO tasks for you. You need good SEO for your online store
10. Backend Products
They say that it’s easier to sell to a customer who has bought from you before than to sell to a new customer.
Build a list of your customers and from time to time promote other products to them via email blast or phone call or whatever.
11. How Long Do You Plan To Stay in Business?
There is a spiritual connection that makes people know if your business will last or not and whether it’s worth patronizing.
If you’re not planning to stay long in your business, you won’t be there to witness the success. Before you even start, ask yourself if you’ll still be there in the next 20, 30, 50 years.
The longer you stay, the more reputation you earn and the more business you’ll have.
12. Track People’s Comments About Your Online Business
One benefit of the online world is freedom of speech. Most internet users go to forums and blogs to complain about products or businesses that they have dealt with.
From time to time, type your domain name on Google followed by the word scam, eg: myshop.com scam. You will find out if you are having negative comments about your business on websites and forums.
Visit those sites and try to solve the issues professionally and peacefully. Bad comments about your store or business in online forums can have a drastic negative effect on your long term growth.
Conclusion
It’s not easy to run an online store. There is serious competition and challenge but it very profitable. I believe if you implement these keys, you will have an edge over other online stores.
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