Starting an online store to sell your products can be very rewarding. But did you know you can get started today with little to no actual budget?
Everyday, I work with a variety of entrepreneurs who need to get their products online but are not sure where to start. With all the experience and strategies used to help my clients create their own online stores in days, you can follow these simple steps and get your store rolling in 10 days or less depending on the products you offer.
To get started, follow these steps and be on your way to selling your products online with your own eCommerce store.
1. Find A Product You Can Sell For A Profit
If you already have a product and its market ready, you can start selling it right away. Before your thing about marketing online, have these steps completed;
- Create a domain name - Make sure it's short and easy to remember
- Label your products - Name, size, benefits etc.
- Make sure the packaging appeals to your audience
- Research and choose targeted keywords for your products
- Optimize your product images to represent it's appearance
- Research pricing and profit margins
2. Choose An eCommerce Platform For Your Online Store
You don't have to spend excessive amounts of cash to get your site built and hosted. Rather than building everything from the ground up, you can find eCommerce platforms that will make the process faster for you to setup your store and for much less than you'll need to get it build from scratch. See a list of 5 powerful eCommerce platforms that you can use today!
Features to consider when choosing the right platform:
- Domain name purchase
- Web hosting included
- Ability for clients to create shopper accounts
- Setup a merchant account
- Blogging capabilities
- E-mail marketing options
- Coupon features
- Easy shipping options
3. Choose An eCommerce Template
Makes sure to find an eCommerce template that fits your product display and style. With most eCommerce platforms, you'll find specific templates for targeted industries and product types. If your product is visual intensive, find a template that can present your images without blurriness. If you provide e-content, make sure your content is downloadable and easy to access. Templates should include;
- Home page
- About us
- product page
- contact page
- Option to blog
4. List Your Products in Your Online Store
Now that you have setup the perfect template for your store, you can now list your product in your online store under targeted categories (if you have multiple products). Focus every category for a specific keyword. Add title tags, clear product descriptions, keyword tags and images that represent your product.
5. Collect Pre-orders/Launch Your Online Store
- Pre-orders
If you product is still being manufactured and you have a set date for your finished product, you can set up a landing page and collect emails from potential customers. Once you launch you product, you can send out a notification with a coupon code - letting your customers know you have open shop.
- Launching Store
Your products have all been listed and now you are ready to start selling. Launch your online store and send out a press release about your launch. Make it simple and offer discounts at the beginning, this will help drive awareness about you store and initiate your first sale.
6. Create A Marketing Strategy - Social And Search
- Social media
If you are on social media, then you should be making money too. With products, you can create a targeted market based on interest, activities and location using Facebook ads. Create a Facebook page and start posting your products with descriptions and any promotions you may want to offer. Work on building your audience by sharing your product with your network. (This works best if you want traffic slow to your business page on Facebook).
Also create Facebook ads and promote your products to a vast targeted audience who show interest in your products. After building your targeted audience, create re-marketing campaigns and drive back traffic to your site.
You can see: "How-To Videos For Marketing Your Online Store With Facebook"
- Adwords Campaigns
If you have a small marketing budget, you can setup an Adwords campaign and focus on products that will sell at a larger profit margin. You need to optimize your campaigns to maximize your budget as you gain traffic from your campaign. Make sure to use the right url for your ads, have an optimized landing page, create clean ad copies that drives a sell, create re-targeting campaigns and drive back traffic to your site.
Are you ready to show the world your product but still have difficulties getting started? Lets help get your online store setup within 15 days with strategy marketing.
Divine Tumenta is an entrepreneur and professional digital marketing expert based in Los Angeles. He has worked in digital marketing for more than 8 years. He is currently founder and CEO of backlinkfy.com and a go to consultant for startups and small businesses in the USA.
