Take Your E-commerce Store from Zero to Hero in 6 Easy steps
If you're brand-new to selling online, getting your feet wet with eBay or Amazon, or just don't have the time to optimize your Shopify store for conversion rate improvements, keep reading.
Perform market research
Understand your target audience
You might think you know your audience, but you probably don't. People are complex, and they are emotional.
How do you figure out your target audience?
Think about what makes them tick. What do they like and dislike? What do they want to buy? Do they like to buy things on their phone or in person? Do they like when companies follow up with them after the purchase?
Find out where your customers are
Do they use social media? Do they go on Reddit? Are they on LinkedIn? Where do they hang out? Find out! Then you can start looking for ways to reach out to them where they are!
Research your competition
You should constantly analyze your competition—not just their products and prices, but also what kinds of content they put out there and how often. You might find some fantastic ideas from them that will help you improve your e-commerce store.
Get a great domain name for your store
The next step to taking your e-commerce store from zero to hero is getting a great domain name. A good domain name can make or break your brand, so spend some time thinking about what kind of URL you want. If you're starting a new business, consider this important decision carefully.
In addition, your domain name should be short, memorable, and easy to spell. Further, make sure it's catchy enough that people can remember it easily when they're searching for the product or service you provide.
Pick the right e-commerce platform
If you've ever tried to build your e-commerce website, you know that picking the right platform can be a bit of a headache. There are so many options, and they all have different strengths and weaknesses.
There are some general things to consider when choosing an e-commerce platform:
What type of store do you want to run? Are you selling physical products or digital goods? Are there any specific features (like analytics or order management) that are a must-have for your business?
How much time do you want to manage your store after it's built?
How much money do you have available for development costs? Can you afford customizations or plugins to make your site unique and special?
Select a product or service to sell
This is an important decision, so you want to make sure that you choose something you are passionate about and aligns with your values. If you can't get excited about what you're selling, then your customers won’t be either.
To select the right product or service, you'll need to research. You should look for popular products or services in your niche (if there's one), have high margins, and have low competition to stand out from the crowd. If possible, try out some of these products yourself to know exactly what they're like and make informed decisions about whether or not they're suitable for your business.
You can also use online tools like Google Trends and Facebook's new Product Catalog feature to search for ideas based on specific keywords or phrases. The more specific your niche is, the easier it will be for customers searching for something very similar in their local area. If you need more help, I have a substack detailing the most profitable e-commerce niches for 2022.
Make critical business and marketing decisions
Your e-commerce site reflects your business, and if you want to make sure that it's reaching your target audience, you need to know how to market your site.
How do you do that? Well, I've got some tips for you!
First: Optimize your site for search engines. This means making sure that the meta description of each page is clear and concise (under 160 characters) so that it shows up in search results. It also means using keywords relevant to your business in the title tag of each page. If people can't find what they're looking for on your site, they won't return!
Second: Make sure that you've taken the time to optimize the images on your website so that they load quickly and efficiently. You'll want them to be smaller than 1MB each, so they don't take forever to load—and remember: Shoppers hate waiting!
Third: When people visit your site from an ad or other source, they should get sent directly where they want to go without being redirected somewhere else first. They'll appreciate not having to click around like crazy to find what they need!
Start driving traffic to your store
It's not always easy to stand out from the crowd. Every day there are thousands of e-commerce stores launching and trying to gain traction.
Here’s how your store can stand out:
Create a blog and post about different topics related to your store. In fact, you can start a profitable e-commerce blog in less than 24 hours.
Send out email newsletters with interesting tips and information about your products and exciting new products you're offering.
Post on social media platforms.
Create a YouTube channel and upload videos showing how to use your products in different ways that customers may not have thought of before (e.g., using [product name] as an alternative to [other product]).
Create a PPC campaign with Google AdWords or Bing Ads targeted toward people searching for keywords related to what you offer (e-commerce stores should already have these set up).
In summary
If you need to grow your online business, do yourself a favor and follow the six easy steps listed above. Also, check out the other posts I've mentioned that contain additional ideas for growing your e-commerce store. Lastly, have fun with it!