Build a successful ecommerce business with Shopify
If you currently own a brick-and-mortar store and are considering launching an eCommerce division- or maybe you want to start a brand new business that you believe would be a successful eCommerce business- you should get started right now. These kinds of markets will continue to become even more crowded and competitive in the future.
It is virtually impossible to cover the very personal and specific aspects of the many eCommerce ventures that are out there. However, the following 8 general tips have helped numerous small business owners start up and build a successful eCommerce business:
Develop Strategic Partnerships
Most eCommerce websites don’t become successful completely by themselves. No matter what skill or experience level you may have, you will most likely be able to benefit from building strategic partnerships with experienced eCommerce businesses and aligning your brand with those who have established solid brand influence and equity already. Here are some tips from Hubspot.
Search for opportunities everywhere you possibly can and look for ways that you may be able to assist other brands so that they will do the same for you.
Drive Traffic to Targeted Landing Pages
Although attracting a high quantity of organic traffic via the search engines is very desirable, having very targeted traffic is what is most important and will bring you high conversion rates.
No matter whether you sell physical products, digital downloads, subscriptions or something else entirely, the best way of driving that type of targeted traffic to your site is to drive social media users to secure landing pages where they can be invited into your conversion funnel even further.
It is even better if you can find some way of integrating payments with your landing pages.
Keep Your Focus Narrow
You might think you’ve got a great idea. However, you need to be careful that you don’t try to launch an eCommerce business that is too broad in scope.
According to entrepreneur Sean Ogle, the chances are good that hundreds of other individuals are either already doing it or have the same idea that you have.
Although your overall idea may be a good one, you will be able to strengthen your position much more if you can find some way of specializing it even further in order to capture a really niche market.
There may be a significantly less number of total customers in the niche market, however your potential for developing a loyal following will be much greater.
Ogles give the example of just trying to sell tablet cases to Kindle Fire users exclusively rather than trying to meet the demands for Galaxies, iPads and Kindles too.
Don’t Build Your Foundation on PPC
There isn’t anything wrong with PPC (pay-per-click) ads inherently. However, it isn’t a good idea to build the foundation of your brand based on a PPC-heavy strategy.
This type of advertising should be used with discretion. Your resources and time should instead be focused on driving organic leads and building brand awareness.
Develop Your Comprehensive Content Strategy
Focusing on a content-heavy strategy is the best thing you can do to drive organic leads. Although it may seem expensive to develop and publish quality content on a steady basis, it will almost always pay off.
Post to your blog, then go to your social media accounts and share your posts there. If you build a retail site using Saphirea this should be easy to implement. Next, work on making connections with other industry websites and publications.
Optimize All of Your Product Listings
Optimization should be your priority for all levels of your website. In terms of individual product listings, you want to focus on creating keyword-rich and unique Meta descriptions, optimize your product images and write sales copy that is descriptive and unique.
Capitalize On Social Networking
Shopify reports that in 2014, orders for eCommerce orders coming from social networking sites saw an amazing 202 percent increase. Much of this comes from the fact that individuals value the opinions that their peers have and will be more interested automatically in things that their friends share a link for or that they reference.
To capitalize on this, you should invest heavily in social media. You can incorporate social networking elements into your product listings and also set up a major social media presence on networking sites like Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Make Sure To Split Test Everything
There are no good excuses for avoiding split testing any longer. New resources and software have made this a simple drag and drop process where you select certain elements of your site and test them to see which ones lead to better conversions.
Paying close attention to specific details can result in increasing your sales significantly, without having to put in a lot of extra work.
Don’t Be Afraid To Learn New Things
Although eCommerce businesses can potentially provide lucrative returns, they are definitely not effortless or easy. You will make some mistakes as you go along. It is very important that you use these experiences as an opportunity to learn.
Conclusion
Starting and building a successful eCommerce business is not as daunting a task as it may seem. You just need to work at it methodically and be sure to utilize all the tools that are at your disposal to help you along the way.
By keeping this in mind- along with the other tips above- you will soon be building a successful eCommerce business that’s set up nicely to achieve long-term success in no time at all.
How did you like my tips above on building a successful eCommerce business?
Please let us all know your thoughts by leaving a comment below. J
About the Author
Cormac Reynolds is an avid Writer, Content Marketer and SEO Link Builder who has been published in a multitude of social media blogs. He enjoys spending most of his free time playing sports, particularly rugby.
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successful eCommerce business
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