Starting an online business is exciting, but there’s a lot to do before you’ll be ready to launch. Break your launch down into manageable chunks. These steps are some of the most important steps to get your online business ready to go and ready to succeed.
- Find a niche. Before you start selling anything, you need to find the right product that has the potential to be profitable. You should research different niches and examine your on life to find a problem that you think you can solve with a product or service online.
- Evaluate market viability. Now you have a business idea, you now need to dig a little deeper into product viability. Consider the details that might make or break your business, such as how many SKUs you’ll have and what shipping will cost.
- Conduct market research. Do some keyword research and evaluate what products are trending to make sure there is a demand for your product, and to identify a gap in the market that you could fill.
- Conduct competitive analysis. Who are your biggest competitors? What is working for them and what can you improve on? This will help you to define your own brand, position in the market, and what online marketing you might need.
- Learn online business laws. There may be shipping restrictions, zoning laws, and trademark considerations that you need to be aware of. These are very important for a business. If you understand the laws, you can avoid eCommerce problems that could derail your business before you even really get anywhere.
- Analyze your target market. You need to do deep research to understand who your ideal customer is. Who are they? What do they like? How can you tailor your product and your eCommerce site experience so it will appeal to this target market?
- Source your product or find the right product. You know you have the right product, who your ideal customer is, and how you’re going to set up your business. You now need to source the physical product. Will you make it yourself, or do you need to find a supplier?
- Choose the right eCommerce platform. None of the work you have already done will mean anything if you don’t have an eCommerce site in place to actually sell your product. This site must have an intuitive shopping experience and makes a customer want to keep returning. Get the design and usability right. Open a business bank account that can link directly to your site to make taking payment easier.
- Launch your store. The product is ready, and you’ve built your platform. Now, using a product launch checklist, you need to actually launch and start letting people know that your business exists and what it does.
- Drive online traffic. When you’ve launched, you need traffic. There are lots of methods to generate online traffic, including SEO and content marketing. You need to either learn those skills yourself, hire someone who can do this, or outsource to other vendors to help you send people to your new platform.