6 Easy Steps To Beginning An Ecommerce Business

When you want to set up your very own E-Commerce site, it can seem a little daunting for those who are new to being a business owner. Setting up your own website doesn‘t have to be stressful if you follow a few simple guidelines that will help to get you up and running in an organised fashion.

– Choose a name

Your name needs to convey a message of some description that will communicate with prospective customers. If you choose a short name that doesn’t give much away about what your business sells, then you will give yourself room to branch out and develop in the future.  On the other hand, a long name hinting at what you do will tend to me more memorable, this can be a valuable factor.

Try and steer clear of choosing names that are exact matches to what you offer. These tend to look a little tacky and unprofessional; after all, if a customer is on your website, chances are they’re pretty certain what it is that you sell.

– Create a logo

Your logo has to be visually strong and drive forward your brand. It is usually a more important factor than your name, due to the fact that people tend to remember colours and images better than they would a name.

Choosing colours that have connotations to match your company is a good idea and if you choose to use a specific design, make sure it’s simple. Simplicity is always the greatest way to succeed in logo design. After all, does the first big brand logo that comes into your head have a very complex or a simple design? Chances are it’s the latter.

– Put together a website

Choose a trusted and proven web designer if you decide to spend money on having a completely brand new site made from scratch. Developers often cost a lot of money, but they can offer you support, consultations and creative input which can sometimes make the difference between an ugly site or a visually appealing one.

– Promote and advertise

Set up social networking profiles and pages such as Facebook and Twitter and use them to your advantage. Use them to create a buzz around your up and coming website and to connect with potential customers. By using social sites, you give your business personality and build up relationships. Target people who are interested in your niche, such as fashion bloggers if you sell women’s clothing. Online relationships build up a trust factor, which makes a sale a lot more likely from new visitors.

You can set up online competitions or hash tag campaigns as just a few examples of how to generate interest and traffic.

– Stock up with products

Being a new company, customer service needs to be top notch, so that you don’t get damaged by a negative review within a short time of setting up – this would massively knock your trust factor with many people, which wouldn’t be as high as it could be anyway as you are a new business and relatively unknown. Always make sure that you are stocked up and make sure your site is swiftly updated if anything sells out. If you receive an order and then have to inform them that the product is out of stock and will have to process a refund, this will severely annoy customers who may not have the funds to temporarily fund another purchase elsewhere; they will also ensure that they and their friends and family will not be purchasing from you again.

– Get plenty of packaging

As with your product management, you need to make sure you are always ready to ship out items as soon as possible to keep customers happy. Running out of packaging is no excuse for lateness and customers will not be forgiving. Make sure you have plenty of packaging items including bubble wrap, packing peanuts and cardboard boxes; make sure you have a variety of different sized boxes to cater for whatever you are sending.

By following these 6 simple steps, you can be sure that you will pave the way to a profitable and successful site. Good luck!