In today’s world, a shop or an office-based business which doesn’t have an online presence doesn’t really exist. Even if it is purely for the sake of credibility, getting online is a must. Beyond that, any business owner should be looking to see how they can leverage the online world to their advantage. Moving at least some part of the business online is usually a wise move.
However, the process is not a straightforward one. For a start, it requires a great deal of planning. Do your research and find out to what extent your product or services are being sold online. Who are your competitors and what can you offer that they don’t? Secondly, you must realise that running a successful e-commerce business requires just as much work, effort and commitment as running a shop or office. In fact, it is your virtual shop and therefore equal thought should go into its presentation and service.
Having gathered your thoughts, it is time to make a plan. Plot out the practical steps that you need to take in order to create a successful online business. There is a whole range of decisions to be made and actions to be taken.
- Register a domain name: This is the name of your website and it should simply communicate what you do. Don’t make the name too long, try to remain loyal to your brick and mortar name, and if possible, always use a dot com suffix. It is the format that people are most likely to remember.
- Select a web host: This is the web server which will store all the pages of your website and make sure that they are live 24/7. A quick online search will reveal some inexpensive options.
- Build a site: You can do this yourself through free platforms such as WordPress, or you can find a designer. Whichever way, think logically about what your site needs to do, the information it must provide and how exactly it will facilitate the sales process.
- Make your site safe and secure: People will only purchase from your online business if they know it is safe to do so. The most important step in achieving this is to purchase an SSL certificate. What is SSL you ask? It is proof that purchases can be made securely from your site, through using a data encryption service.
- Select a suitable sales platform: The sales platform determines how customers will actually make purchases. There are a number of factors to consider, but in a nutshell, choose a platform which you think will match the amount of sales you are likely to make. It is also a good idea to choose one which integrates a shipping system such as UPS. This will cut down the time that you spend on posting and shipping. If you plan on taking credit card details through your online store, you may need to buy EV SSL Certificates from Thawte for the extended validation and security.
- Register with local search listings: Make sure that your business is listed on sites such as Bing and Yahoo. It is the first step to someone finding you online.
- Drive traffic to your site: This is very simply how you encourage sales. In order to achieve this, you need a proper SEO strategy. This can be complicated and time-consuming and it is often worth consulting an expert. However, you can get yourself going by using Google Keyword Tool.