eCommerce Checklist for first time Entrepreneurs

From the past two years, eCommerce took a mammoth turn. With eCommerce sales rose up to $300 billion, we are on the verge of eCommerce evolution. And by the year 2020 this it is estimated that eCommerce sales will rise to $12 trillion, according to Frost & Sullivan. It is important to mention here that volume of transactions will vary between B2B and B2C.

If you are an Entrepreneur and willing to start your eCommerce store now is the best time to do so. If you have the next big idea, now is the time to turn it into gold.

“You could be the next person to succeed if you choose to learn from successful people instead of being envious of them. Moreover, aren’t they successful because they learned and continue to learn from others?”  ~Edmond Mbiaka

Here at Branex, we have compiled a checklist that can be a guideline for you to start your business from scratch.

Tips By Gary Vaynerchuk

Here is what we will be covering in this blog:

• Start with a Business Plan
• Pick a catchy Domain Name
• Go for Reliable Web Hosting Service
• Spend time and resources on Content Marketing
• Pick passionate Web Designer
• Time to pick an eCommerce CMS
• Use a secure Credit Card Merchant
• What about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
• Shipping Rate Structure

Start with a Business Plan

Researchers say that “Business planning is positively related to business success. Entrepreneurs who start with a business plan is more likely to succeed in the real world. I still remember my last lecture of MBA. My professor came next to me and cursed me for not making a business plan for my first start. Which I later realized was the first step I missed.

When you create a business plan, you give an impression that you are serious about your venture. You mean business. Yes, for some this is a tedious job. Well, who is asking to go for complex novel-based documents? Your business plan can be as simple as a one-pager which you and your stakeholders need to understand.

Pick a catchy Domain Name

With over $1.17 billion people using Google to search and learn every day, it is nearly impossible for Entrepreneurs to pick a memorable domain name which then can later be optimized for search engines too.

So, despite giving some thought to the domain name. Young Entrepreneurs do a very silly mistake. For instance, if you are willing to sell custom shoes, you will surely not find customshoes.com or custommadeshoes.com (Which is quite long btw) so Entrepreneurs go with coolcustommadeshoes.com (Which is quite long and not cool at all). Got it what I meant?

For domain name do some research on the internet. See what custom shoes translate to in different languages and pick that. Study of the culture of your target market and pick some slang from the local market. There are tons of ideas you can use to pick a domain name, but just keep in mind that it should be short, easy to remember, easy to spell and doesn’t sound awkward when translated to into a different language.

Go for Reliable Web Hosting Service

Your web host will be the nucleus of your business. I remember the first time my website went down and it took three business days for the web hosting company to get back up. While hosting companies charge a hefty fee for their services, make sure to run by all the services they are offering. A cheap hosting doesn’t really mean a reliable one. Read reviews, ask friends, and go for someone that is working for them.

This is usually a one-time deal. Like you will choose a web hosting that will cater for a year or three year period of time, so make sure to choose wisely.

Spend time and resources on Content Marketing

Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic. They are capable of both inflicting injury and remedying at the same time. For most of the people, content marketing is just like putting words on the internet to support your SEO. Well, sorry to disappoint you guys. Content marketing is the modern day golden chicken & egg. If you use it wisely you can harness the power of lead generation & multiply your sales in no time.

It is often good to invest in content marketing for some quality content. This will not just help bring some leads, it will also help you in your SEO.

Pick Passionate Web Designer

I always respect people who do work just for the sake of work. Yes, go on freelancer and you will find thousands of web designers that can make cheap web mocks ups for you. But, ask yourself this, will these designs catch the eye of your visitor? The survey suggests that a visitor takes only 5 seconds to judge your website. So, it is worth it to go for a designer who just works for money? I would suggest going for someone who is passionate about his work.

Set a meeting with the designer and look into his eyes. Eyes are reflection our souls. If he is thrilled about wen design & he feels excited about your project to hire him on spot.

Time to pick an eCommerce CMS

An eCommerce CMS is the backbone of your ideas. It will display your dreams and manage the inventory of your products.

Selecting the right eCommerce CMS is one hell of a job. In this, you need to take care of both the aspects, the developer, and the customer side. Will the backhand be easy enough that your team can get along with the interface & will the customers find it easy to browse & search for their desirable products?

An ounce of research goes a long way. Google some eCommerce CMS and read what people are saying about them. Take notes of the pros and cons and go for that which is good for you.

Use a secure Credit Card Merchant

While most of the customer will be paying via PayPal, still it is your responsibility to cater all the visitors that drop to your website. Normally, Entrepreneurs run away from credit card merchant account because in the start it might seem pricey. Typically banks charge a set-up fee, a monthly fee, and a percentage of each transaction.

What about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

What is the purpose of your website if it doesn’t show up in the first page of Google? Now day’s people hire SEO gurus to fine-tune their website to attain high ranking in Google.

If you do not know how to setup your SEO you can always Google some articles and learn before you hire a specialist.

Shipping Rate Structure

Before you even step into your first order, ensure what you will charge for normal shipping, one-day shipping and date-specific delivery.

Even at first if you lose some money in order to make some customers, it is quite a good deal. And also even providing free shipping over certain items is a great way to attract some genuine customers.

To conclude it all

A simple checklist is often good to keep in hand; this will protect you & your team from an massive amount of misery & slip-up down the line, & will enable you to hit the ground running with your efforts to drive actual sales.