Online shopping has increased dramatically with 85 per cent of the world’s population choosing to shop online. For those of you looking to run an ecommerce website, it can be an easy way to make money but only if you know how to budget.
Niche Market
Most ecommerce websites don’t succeed in making money and often fail as they offer too many products. It may be tempting to sell lots of items and be the next Amazon, but if you’re just starting out, make sure you focus your ecommerce on a particular niche. An ecommerce website that is too broad will be an instant loss of money as there are people who are probably already doing it, and with their focus they’re probably doing it better. If you have an idea, try and make it as specialised as possible as you will eliminate competition and get a fan base from which it can begin to grow.
Testing
Once you’ve focused on your niche you will need to test whether the product you’re selling is actually in demand. To keep costs down a good way to start testing is by setting up a free eBay shop to trial your product before committing to the expense of a website. After you’ve tested your selling and your product, set up your website.
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Many ecommerce websites have companies which take care of their online advertising, marketing and SEO. If you can do some of that on your own you’ll reduce costs, but as this is a very fast-moving area it’s often best to leave it to a professional if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Never underestimate the power of SEO as that can make the difference between a successful business and it quickly becoming a failure. Make use of free advertisement through word of mouth as your customers will become brand ambassadors through their reviews. If you begin to collect and share their reviews on a regular basis you will encourage the flow of more customers and website visitors.
Easy Checkout Processes
In this modern age people are impatient and want everything to be instant. If your ecommerce site has a quick and easy checkout process, customers will be more inclined to use your site again. Although merchant accounts may be pricey, they can be extremely cost effective as they make it easy for customers to pay during check out. When it comes to searching for a merchant account make sure you hunt around for the best deal for your website as there will be different rates and costs.
Shipping
The smaller and lighter your products are, the cheaper the shipping fee will be. If your products aren’t small and light, there isn’t much you can do to combat this, but always make sure your default shipping option is the cheapest. Many online retailers include the cost of shipping in the price of the product and then offer free shipping as a way of attracting more customers.
Financial professional and online entrepreneur, I'm best known as The Financial Blogger. I want to make money because I like enjoying life the way it should be; with a lot of great food and wine! I also love to spend time with my lovely wife and 3 kids!
