How to start an online business? - 5 basics to consider before building a successful online store

Back 2019-02-26 12:53:30
The way in which we buy products online is constantly changing. On one hand, we replace the devices we use year by year and in the consequence the requirements for an online business are also constantly changing. On the other hand, customers are expecting matchless shopping experiences and seamless customer journeys.

In order to fulfill these expectations, large companies are working with big Marketing and Software departments. The questions is, how can small and medium sized business compete with that? Therefore it's necessary to create a solid infrastructure. So i asked myself, what are important things to consider for building a strong online brand. 

1. Product presentation  

The product presentation is a fundamental requirement for online-stores. For a visitor of your online shop everything revolves around the product, thats why finding the perfect presentation is a key essence for your revenue. The first thing that comes to mind, when you are thinking about product presentation is the product picture. In order to avoid high return rates, it is very important to evoke an accurate impression of your products. To achieve such a target it is very common to present the product from every angel. Further positioning the product in front of a neutral background established in the last years. The more accurate the images, the better. Besides the aspect of evoking an accurate impression of the product, the product presentation is an essential pillar in establishing trust in the scope of your online store. Apart from images and pictures you can complement your product presentation with videos and a 360° view of your product. Alongside the product visualization, the product description is part of the presentation in the broadest sense. It helps the customer to get comprehensive information about the product. In Addition the description plays an important role in search engine optimization. 

2. Search Engine Optimization - SEO 

Just like many others i use search engines, in order to find the perfect product and price. Thats why the presence and traceability in major search engines like Google or Bing are of crucial importance and are directly linked to the revenue of your business. Even though there are blogs and articles about SEO, which are promising rapid results with little effort, there is a whole science around SEO with a lot of details and crucial factors to consider. As already mentioned the product description plays an important role in SEO, therefore it is important to use important keywords in your description. Furthermore you should ask yourself, if your product description is able to answers the most common customer questions. One of the most frequent mistakes made by online retailers is to copy the product description of the producers. The more unique your content is, the better your online store will rank in search engines. 

3. UX  

Besides the usability of online shops the design and presentation layer are gaining importance in e-commerce. Nowadays a customer expects unique shopping experiences and seamless customer journeys, this starts with a well structured and user-friendly user interface. Your customer should be able to operate intuitively on your online store. With just a few clicks, your customer should be able to complete his purchase. To sum up a a unique and intuitiv customer experience will increase your conversion rate. 

4. Social Media Marketing

In order to advertise, expand sales and strengthen your brand image, Social Media Marketing is a strong tool. Even whit a small budget you can acquire customers with the right strategy. Depending on the sector, the products and your target group there are various social networks, which you can feed with content. Concentrate on the social networks that are relevant for your customers. 

5. Which Shopsoftware is the right one?

Every merchant is asking himself at some point, which eCommerce Software is the right one for my needs? Unfortunately there is no general answer to this question, it is depending on the specifications and requirements of your eCommerce project. While in the beginning of eCommerce online stores were build with a lot of effort and money from the scratch, nowadays it became common to use SaaS-Solutions.
Whereas the individual development of online stores are very resource consuming, modular systems are faster and easier to build and less expensive. But they are also containing a lack of individuality and are limited in development. Further it is indispensable to use Plug-Ins with most of the SaaS-Solutions. On one hand Plug-Ins deliver the functionalities, which are needed to run an online business. On the other hand such a technical patchwork development can bring negative impacts on the page-speed. In addition modular systems are containing a lack in scalability and flexibility.

Shoptech 2.0 - the best of both worlds.

A new approach known as PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) combines the best of both worlds. This modern approach promises limitless agility and flexibility in order to meet all new requirements of the market. While the infrastructure of the platform delivers all needed eCommerce functionalities, the frontend can be designed individually or can be a template. This approach is known as "headless E-Commerce". The backend and frontend are separated, in order to ensure the data orchestration between this two layers an eCommerce API is needed. In terms of innovative and modern business models this technical architecture enables every merchant to run the imagination free.

stay tuned!

Try sleekshop 30 days for free.

Start now