How to start an online store? 14 effective steps

Finally, you have made a great deal for opening an online store. It took much effort from you. You are sure that all the elements will work suitably. Nevertheless, some problems can appear even on the first stage of functioning. You need to be sure that everything is working fine. 

Here we provide the list of 14-effective steps to make your business alive: 

1. Define the sales channel;
2. Use a personal domain;
3. Use a personal experience with payments and orders;
4. Get ready with pages;
5. Set the e-mail notifications;
6. Complete the content audit;
7. Use analytics;
8. Complete the settings with search engines;
9. Download the right images;
10. Use a marketing plan before the start;
11. Taxation and delivery;
12. Easy communication;
13. Useful apps;
14. Payment options.

Detailed observation

Sales channels are the most important elements in e-commerce. They create the greatest part of the successful business. According to the statistics, the number of clients who are shopping online is rapidly growing. Sometimes it becomes impossible to buy anything as the pages of popular online stores are not available. It is especially actual when the season of discounts opens. 

In this case, the businessman needs to have an alternative way to sell goods. So, paying attention to social networks and other trading platform is quite important. Try to analyze the most accessible ways of selling things in your region and use them in your online store. 

With the help of such instruments, you can easily see what is happening. You can observe all the things you are selling and control the process. Some companies have increased their profit by 30-40% using the right sales channels. 

Using a personal domain is a good thing. It adds reliability and trust to your online store. Besides, if you chose the right name for the domain, it will be easy to memorize and make your company well-known. 

Start with searching the right domain name. It may happen that the so desired name can be occupied. Don’t get upset, try to use your imagination. If you found something that is free, register it as soon as possible. It is evident that the most popular brands belong to the domain .com. If it is busy, try to find an alternative. There are some other variants that can be suitable for the online store. Even if you choose such domains as .org, store, they will be also shown on the top of the search pyramid. 

Before you attract clients to your online store, be sure, that people can buy anything in the shop. Again, judging by statistics, many clients refuse buying goods even when they add they to the basket. It is connected with many facts. It must be convenient to use the website. If you add anything, you need to have a number of options to correct the order. 

When you are going to test your online store, pay attention to the following things:

• All the prices for the delivery are visible;
• Easy promo codes application;
• It is easy to correct a number of things in the order;
• The most popular means of payment are available;
• Contacts are easy to access;
• E-mail notifications after purchasing;
• Different variants of languages and currency exist.

Main standard pages are also important in the online store. It is vitally important to heave healthy pages where clients can learn all the necessary information about the company. If the clients have a question, they must easily get the answer to it. The main question that usually troubles people is how fair the store is running. You should have the following sections in the online store to make people trust you:

• The main page, or the so-called home page. It is the face of the company. It is the place where people enter when they click the link. You need to have a user-friendly interface and navigation there if you want to get as many clients as possible.
• A page with a contact information. It is a typical thing for a reputable online store. The main contacts that are provided there are: phone number, e-mail address, links to social networks, etc. These elements make people believe that your online shop is real.
• About us. It is the section that must be filled with true and detailed information about the company. It can become a real leading factor in selling. People usually look at this section to know how long the company is working. Besides, they want to know something about the brand and things you are providing. 
• FAQ. This section is not less important than the previous ones. At first, it can be quite difficult to collect the most heated questions. If you look at the competitors, the task can be simpler. Don’t just copy them, but try to adapt according to your preferences. 

E-mail notifications are quite widespread nowadays. It serves as the confirmation of the purchase. When you buy anything in the online store, you will get an e-mail from the shop to know that the order was correctly paid and confirmed. Traditionally, there are several variants of the e-mail notifications:

• Welcome offers;
• Payment checks;
• Confirmation;
• Reminds about the things you were interested in;
• Delivery service information.

Content audit is a necessary thing. We will try to explain what we mean. There can appear lots of small mistakes on the website. They can be of different types. It can be wrong spelling, incorrect pricing, wrong links and so on. All these elements need to be corrected, as they are closely connected with the convenience of using your online store. Look at it retrospectively, from the end to the very beginning. 

Important! It is quite normal when you try to acquaint clients with new words, especially when they are connected with the brand name. At the same time, be careful as they must look accurate on every page of the website.

As for the technical part of the store, you need to check it on mistakes. The most widespread is 404. It is recommended to check the website by different means.

Analytics must be included in the list too. It should be working just from the day when you start selling anything. It can provide really necessary information if it is interpreted in the right way. There are lots of automatic instruments that can help you in it. They can be easily added to your website and start working. The number of them is massive nowadays. You don’t need to test them all. Find something that is convenient to you. At least, you can choose several of them to get used to them.

Working with search engines is a big part of the deal. You need to understand what your website looks like. If you want to succeed in selling goods, you need clear traffic. It depends on many things:

• Right keywords. They must be related to what you are selling.
• The right use of these keywords. They must be included in headings and descriptions.
• A user-friendly map of the website. It can help any search engine understand what you are providing.
• The right speed of the website. The website must work correctly from any part of the world and from any device. 
• Content marketing. It is important to get feedbacks from the clients. You can lead blogs, read comments, everything to know what real people think about your project.

Working with images also includes several stages. If you have pictures of the things, they must download fast. There must be no errors in them. Use the keywords for naming the pictures. Choose the correct size of the images. There is no need to download pictures in high definition. Don’t forget to use the right type of the file. The most convenient are JPEG or PNG. No need to download PSD or something like that. Pay attention to thumbnails. They must be clearly seen on the pages of your website. Finally, you need to check all the images. They must download fast without any mistakes. You can use various tests to check if everything is working fine. 

Apply to a plan. When you start your business, you need to realize what you want to get. It is vitally important to have a marketing plan. It will be structured. So, if you have problems, look at it to understand what step should be taken next.

Taxation and delivery. There are several things here that should be taken into consideration. First of all, you need to know the right tax rate for the things you are selling. It is important because low or high tax rate can influence your profit negatively. Delivery of things is not less important. The clients must be sure that they can get what they bought. If you have doubts with any point, ask an accountant for help. It will be the most reasonable idea not to break everything at once.

Easy connection is a key to success. It is recommended to as many means of communication as possible. Don’t be afraid to add live-chats. They are the safest and the fastest means of communication. The companies that have such options have more profit. It really enhances the conversion of the website. 

Using apps must be reasonable. When you just open your online store, add the most necessary apps. Don’t overload the website. You can add just elements for social network integration. You can also add some instruments for selling and make the service more convenient. First of all, you need to look at them to understand if they are necessary for you or not. At first, you can start with a couple of them. As the business will be developing, you can add something new.

Payment option is the most important things. It must work correctly with the most popular means of payment in the area where you sell things.

The importance of the list

This list is not a must but can make the process of running an online store easier. When you start your own business, it is easy to lose something. Looking at this list you understand what is done and what needs to be done. It is like in air force industry when pilots check everything before the flight. You should do the same to run your business correctly.