So you finally want to start your online business? Congratulations! You’re going to need a lot of luck and patience. There’s no point in doing all this work if you’re not serious about building a business around your idea.
Do tons of research on similar businesses, their owners, and any stats or success rates they have posted online. Google is your best friend when it comes to finding information about what’s already out there. If you’re interested, we’ll walk you through how to create an e-commerce store step by step.
10 Steps To Set Up An Online Business
1.) Choose a name for your site.
Try not to have hyphens in it because it looks unprofessional when people say it out loud. Also, choose a .com if possible and make sure that’s what people will type in if they want to visit you (and nobody wants to type in anything extra). Make sure the name isn’t trademarked by someone else or extremely generic.
2.) Register your site’s name.
This will ensure nobody else can start up a website using the same name as you, and it also makes it official. Search Google for “<insert your site name here> + register” or ‘domain who is lookup’ to find out if that domain is available to purchase. If someone else has already used or owns the rights to your desired domain, try variations of it (use all lowercase, swap spaces for dashes, etc.).
3.) Get web hosting.
Get web hosting set up with whatever company you choose based on reviews and price. Make sure they offer an easy install so you can get started. You may need to pay them monthly or annually, depending on what package you order. If you go this route, the hosting company will also probably offer to install a free theme for you.
4.) Get a logo.
Get a logo designed or use a template from Canva to get started. This is important, especially because even if your site goes national, people will still think of you by your brand name and your logo design.
5.) Sign up with a No-Code Website Builder.
Create a website in minutes. Get an elegant and professional-looking site quickly with a modern, drag-and-drop design builder that comes complete with hundreds of pre-designed templates and sections to customize it however you like. You can even make your own elements if desired; giving anyone access who wants one without any coding knowledge whatsoever. Your page will automatically adapt depending on how big the viewer’s browser window is so they’re guaranteed comfort no matter what device they use – all while looking stylish too.
6.) Create captivating content.
Now that you have a logo and a ‘home’ for your company, it’s time to write some content. Optimize each page with keywords for SEO purposes.
What is SEO?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of affecting the visibility of a website in search engines via organic (unpaid) search results. When you search for something on Google, Bing, or Baidu there are algorithms that determine where your website appears along with ads (if any), images, videos, and other websites.
Organic results make up the non-paid ones; these are generated by algorithms that consider many factors before placing your website on top of the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Factors like relevancy to what you searched for, how often that particular page is accessed, geographical location of the user, authority of your site (where it ranks in comparison to other sites), etc.
Google has said that “a good place to start is with keyword research.” This means that before you do anything else, you need to find what people are searching for so that your content matches what your audience is looking for.
It may take months or years before Google really starts seeing your site as an authority, so don’t worry too much about being perfect from day one.
7.) Set up a shopping cart.
Get a shopping cart set up through your web host so people can actually buy things off of your website without having to manually invoice them afterward (which takes extra work). If this is not possible or too difficult, consider selling services through Fiverr or taking PayPal payments through Fotolia (and then transferring money into another account like an American Express Serve or a bank account).
8.) Introduce yourself.
Put up a smooth little ‘About Us’ page, but don’t waste too much time on it because your customers won’t really care that much about who makes the product. However, they will appreciate your transparency (we all like to feel like our hard-earned cash is going somewhere worthwhile) so talk about where you’re based, what kind of experience you have in the business world (and related fields), and anything else relevant. Keep it short, though!
9.) Now comes the fun part: adding products.
If you want to sell products, uploading products is pretty simple through whatever shopping cart program you use. Add pictures, link back to pages on your site that are relevant to the product you’re trying to sell—and most importantly, make sure you do some research beforehand about similar products on other websites or stores.
10.) Contact details
Put up a ‘Contact Us’ page with your physical address and phone number so customers know where to send their money (or check) if they would like to buy something from you. And most importantly, good luck out there!
Bonus Tip: Once you have some kind of revenue coming in, start an automatic savings plan. Automatic transfers are the easiest— your bank can help you with this. And if you’re really feeling ambitious, go for an investment product like a mutual fund or, better yet, invest in the stock market for long-term growth.
Conclusion
Creating an online business is a long and arduous process that requires all of your attention. However, choosing to build your empire on the Internet allows you to explore creativity in ways that would be otherwise impossible given the cost of manufacturing physical products in small quantities or renting space in commercial shopping centers. You also have immediate access to over 3.5 billion people across the world—all just one click away!
