Starting an eCommerce business is becoming a daily dream for lots of visionary business people. Business merchants wrestle with the question; when and how should one start an eCommerce business. It is a hard nut to crack. With the internet, there are lots of tips and strategies out there that need careful consideration before taking an action plan.
The Internet has made many business people successful, and it has equally misled several businesses. It’s upon business merchants to carefully sift through what they read. This guide provides an original approach on how to start an eCommerce business.
Create Your Own Company Name
Ideally, a good business name for the eCommerce website should relay the skills, services offered, and uniqueness. There is so much more than meets the eye in your business name, and therefore it’s better to take sufficient time creating business name before you back it up with the right marketing strategy. Be unique- instead of trying to capture all brands in the company name focus on a single essential element.
You can either use phrases, Compound nouns or transmutations to give your company a good name. Choosing the right business name requires creativity, evade power words. A short name has a powerful gesture than a long one. Remember, your business name shouldn’t capture everything leave something for the imagination. If you follow the outlined process, you will discover an outstanding trademark.
Register Your Own Brand Name
Registering a business brand name is a straightforward process. It only takes less than 90 minutes when the application is made online. The shortest way to register is on the U.S Trademark Office’s Website.
Before you acquire the brand name pause enough to check the Trademark Electronic Search System to be certain that no other company that bears such a brand name.
- You must have an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to actualize the process. It’s a requirement to be able to open a bank account for the payment of the taxes. Remember the process will stall if you don’t get valid business licenses and permits.
- Before you begin operating consult with your state to ascertain the sales tax permits you need. In the end, you should have all the business permits and licenses to comply with the law.
Secure Your eCommerce Domain Name and Website
Creating your website entails choosing your domain name. Web hosting providers provide domain names, and you can choose to buy from either of them. You will then be required to enter the domain name into a text box.
Keyword optimization determines the domain name. You require a great keyword to invent a domain name that will increase traffic on your site. Remember webmasters don’t use pompous words for URL.
To see how it works open Godaddy.com and enter the chosen keyword. GoDaddy.com scans the names under the submitted keyword. It extracts all the taken names, and then it provides you with suggestions for the appropriate possible names.
Select the Best eCommerce Business Structure
Many business owners wrestle with the question: What is the best eCommerce business structure? We are pleased to tackle this issue in depth. There are three business structures.
Sole Proprietorship
In this structure, you and your business are intertwined. You own all business assets and loses. This structure requires no long-term tax planning. A sole proprietorship is the highly recommended business structure since you don’t require a business license to run a sole proprietorship under your name.
Partnership
In partnership, any profit or loss is shared equally to all members according to the percentage of their contribution, and the government doesn’t tax individuals. A partnership is known for its lower compliance cost. If several members are in a partnership, the cost of tax work becomes less.
If the partnership is not a general one, then it is a limited partnership. In a general partnership, all members have bound to damages the business with impeachable liability, but in a limited partnership, the non-active members are only obliged to the amount they have invested in the business.
Corporation
A corporation is an independent legal unity with its mechanisms, constitution, and management officers. The bearers of the corporation run it as a separate entity, and a member can sue it if need be. Therefore you don’t require this type of structure for online eCommerce platforms because of its technicalities.
To operate online first, find the name of your business, register it, and choose the business structure.
Find the Right eCommerce Vendor
To find eCommerce vendors write down how you want to acquire your orders. Some eCommerce businesses prefer drop shipping while others choose to store their products in a warehouse set for shipping when an order is placed.
To get the best price link with the supplier and shun the middlemen. You connect with them through a phone call; you need to link someone (supplier) who can make a decision. If you connect with the supplier, you cut down cost hence making bigger profits. You also can negotiate for a better price.
In as much as you need to reduce the cost, you don’t need to interfere with the quality of the product. For the best quality, you ought to ask for samples from your vendors. Through this tactic, you will ascertain what your customers prefer. Since there are many vendors out there, don’t deal with the ones who don’t avail samples to you.
Start with Marketing a New Business Online
Many business merchants get too busy with their companies to spend time when selling online.
Marketing is the backbone of business success; actually, you should start with marketing your new business online before you open it. We present to you simple and effective ways on how to market your online store by yourself.
Discover the structure that best suits you. To understand eCommerce marketing for small businesses, you should know that trending online is an investment. Each different business structure works differently for each category of customers. Acquaint yourself with varying models of business before you choose what to sell online.
Design excellent social media profiles. Become a staunch member of business groups-in that offers advice on social media. If you take the provided information, you become a guru in your field which ultimately improves your reputation hence boosting your sales. Use Facebook and Twitter, for instance, to give discounts to promote your products. Get gifted writers who can do quality content for your blog. Get blogs to do a search for your niche and install a free social sharing plugin. Make sure that the readers can share the content for your blog.
Manage Work Processes with the Right eCommerce Software
When marketing your online store, you need the best eCommerce software that can efficiently manage the online store and aid in processing payment. You can either create your software or purchase it. Create a budget plan to control your expenses, and set long term goals that best work for your business.
To attract more customers to your website you need a proper community manager or store manager. There must be clear-cut strategies that aid in managing your store online. Also, one of the most important decisions you make is choosing the right platform for your future store. If you just start, you can either sell on the marketplace or create a store. There are some free options as Wix and Etsy, but to grow you need something more scalable to have a room for upgrades.
We’ve written a lot about platforms for the past year. In short, the strongest competitors on the market are WooCommerce, Magento, Shopify, PrestaShop, OpenCart and BigCommerce. According to BuiltWith, all of these platforms shared the eCommerce software market with each other.
Another source, SimilarTech, shows that among the most popular platforms are WooCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace Commerce and Magento (all versions). Each platform has its benefits and pitfalls, but we found out that Magento is the most flexible and scalable solution.
Magento is the best eCommerce software that does well with any type of business. It has unique features compared to other software. With Magento, you go live quickly. It has a Cloud hosting and deployment feature to accelerate your sales hence connecting you with certified partners. Cloud hosting helps reduce the cost by enabling you to monitor and host eCommerce solutions by yourself. Not only this, you can add as much functionality as you want. Different extensions from the marketplace and custom solutions will serve your business needs. To go deeper through this topic, you can check our research on the top eCommerce platforms and their features comparison on the Clutch blog.
Design Your Store Online
After creating a name for your brand and store, and choosing the platform to start, you need to think about unique web design. If you have an online clothing store, ensure that your site has high-quality photos. Fill your store with colorful patterns of shirts, trousers, shorts, and jackets. Customers buy what appeases their eyes; therefore, they feed their eyes with what they wish to see; they will purchase something good.
Summary
To summarize a few key points from this guide, you need to spare some time for online marketing just like you spend time on niche products. For a better eCommerce business plan and major on online marketing and sales. Don’t focus on web design for your blog in the beginning focus on sales and marketing. Invest in eCommerce marketing plan to improve your business.
