We don’t mean to intrude, but you’ve just landed on the perfect blog post for such a state of mind.

If you’ve had enough of punching time cards, having your meal times determined by a scheduling program, and answering to middle-management, then perhaps there’s no better time than now to turn those daydreams into reality.

There’s a lot to consider and plan for when becoming your own boss and starting an online business — like what kind of business will you start?

How to Start an Online Business

We live in a connected world, with the internet and technology enabling ample opportunities to start successful businesses online. If you decide to give up the office or retail life and become a digital entrepreneur, you’ll be in good company.

Online, home-based businesses are on the rise and are valuable sources of income for many. Depending on your needs and goals, your business may be a part-time side hustle or it could be your full-time venture.

Is starting an online business a good idea? Online businesses may require fewer investments as compared to brick-and-mortar businesses that require external facilities or a hired staff, and they offer a flexible work-life balance as it’s dictated by you. However, keep in mind that you may need to convert part of your home and living space to support your business, especially as it grows.

Let’s explore some online business ideas that you can launch with a little business planning and a website (and that aren’t MLMs.)

15 Online Business Ideas

Ready to be your own boss? With these business ideas, you can be.

1. Web designer

Web designers are in demand.

As brick-and-mortar businesses convert into online retailers, they all need websites. Business owners often don’t have the time to create and design beautiful, functional websites. Even with the advent of easy-to-use website builders, they seek outside counsel and assistance.

And it isn’t just small businesses that need web design help, large companies frequently hire design consultants to assist with their needs.

Web design is all about creating an intuitive, beautiful experience for the end-user, so if helping others and designing are your passions, this is a great business idea to consider starting from home.

2. Personal fitness trainer

The pandemic has shown us that traditionally in-person businesses can be successful online. You may be accustomed to going to a gym or studio to learn and instruct, but there’s nothing stopping you from doing that online, too.

A website, camera, and open floor space are all you really need to get started if you’re knowledgeable about proper exercise, motivation, and healthy living. Once you build your reputation and your business grows, you may find that you’ll want to start making house calls or letting your clients come to you.

Before starting a personal fitness training business, make sure to research local guidelines to determine if any special licensing is required.

3. Copywriter

Do you have a way with words? The ability to sway people by pen or keyboard? If yes, it’s time to give serious consideration to becoming a copywriter.

Great copy helps convert website visitors into customers, so website owners everywhere seek help writing content like FAQs and blog posts.

To attract those website owners and convince them to hire you, you’ll need to put your skills to work. Start by creating a website to showcase your strengths. Make sure to include an “About” page where prospective clients can learn about you, samples of your work, and make it easy for them to contact you — a “Contact Us” page is great, but your contact information should be discoverable from every page.

4. Interior Designer

Some people have an eye for style, and some don’t. If you do, why not help others create the living or workspaces of their dreams?

Someone, somewhere, doesn’t understand that houndstooth can’t be matched with plaid, or what color walls best pair with their flooring. Your stylistic expertise is what they need and they’ll be happy to pay for a consultation.

As with any business, social proof is important, so you’ll want to showcase your work on your website. Consider adding a blog to your site to keep your readers up-to-date with trends and inform them of what you’ve been working on.

5. Dropshipper

Have you thought about starting an online retail business, only to abandon your dream because you don’t have the funds to invest in a large inventory of products?

Dropshipping solves that issue for you. With dropshipping, you can sell products on your site without worrying about stocking and inventory. It works like this: When you sell a product on your site it’s purchased from a third party who fulfills shipping, so you never have to touch the product. These third-party sellers are normally wholesalers or manufacturers, and you’ll still make a profit from the sales.

Dropshipping means low overhead. You don’t have to purchase any products unless you’ve made a sale and it’s been paid for by the customer. This also gives you great control and flexibility when it comes to testing new products in your market. 

6. Personal chef

Does everyone rave about your cooking? Perhaps now is the time to turn your culinary prowess into a profitable business.

Depending on local regulations and guidelines, you can use your home kitchen to create nutritious, enjoyable meals for your clients. As your business grows, you may need to find a commercial kitchen and hire helpers, but the majority of your marketing, planning, and business work can be done from the comfort of your own home.

Happy clients and referrals will help your business grow, so don’t hesitate to create a website to show off your delicious meals and share information about your offerings.

7. Grant writer

Non-profit organizations rely on donations to fund their goodwill initiatives. There are many opportunities for them to apply for grants to receive funding, but oftentimes, the people behind the scenes are juggling many roles, and don’t have the time to write the incredible grant proposals they need to secure funds.

This is where you come in. Are you a master of pen and keyboard? Do you have a knack for laying information out concisely and persuasively? There are so many organizations vying for a limited amount of grants, that it’s imperative for proposals to be well-formatted and well-written.

There are many free resources online that can help you learn how to write the perfect proposal. Once you’ve nailed it, pitch your services to different organizations and create a website where people seeking grant writers can contact you.

8. Life coach

Does everyone in your friend group rely on you for advice? Do they seek you out for your sage wisdom on love, work, and any other number of personal and professional issues?

Sounds like you might already be a bit of a life coach. Life coaches aren’t therapists, but they do help individuals focus on the life they want, provide guidance and counsel, and help people to achieve their goals.

Some life coaches prefer to coach and speak to big crowds, but it’s a career that can easily be done from your home. While life coaches don’t technically need a license to operate, there are programs designed to help you become a life coach that offer certifications. As with any business, you’ll need to invest in your online presence to build your audience of prospective customers.

9. Blogger

Blogs and websites have democratized the information age, letting anyone who has an interest or is an expert on a topic hold court. Blogging is one of the most popular ways that people share information, and you can manage your blog from home or anywhere!

To be a blogger, you undoubtedly have to have your own site. To be successful, you’ll need to create fresh, interesting content that appeals to your audience. Encourage your readers to share your posts with their friends and on social media to grow your following.

As your blog gains more and more engaged readers, you can offer advertising space on your blog for additional income. If you’re seriously considering becoming a blogger, check out this post about what you need to know when starting a blog.

10.  Virtual assistant

Are you an organizational powerhouse? Have you been called “Type A” more than once? A virtual assistant position may be perfect for you.

Busy executives and business owners can reach a point where they’re inundated with responsibilities and don’t have the time to manage all their tasks. Appointments, emails, video calls — all of these things add up and are time-consuming.

As a virtual assistant, you’d be stepping in to provide the help and organization they so desperately need. You’d carry your tasks out at home, from scheduling meetings and appointments to replying to emails, fielding phone calls, and managing documents. And all of these things are easily achievable using cloud-based solutions. 

So, if you’re the type who plans everything from morning to sundown, you can have a lot of fun and find fulfillment as a Virtual Assistant. 

11.  Consultant

Someone, somewhere, needs your expertise. Consultants are experts in their fields, and they are paid to advise others in their field or to address specific issues others are facing. It’s not the same as a coach, who provides advice and motivation so you meet your goals.

Usually, consultants offer their services to businesses, although individuals sometimes seek out consultants, too. As a home-based consultant, you have the flexibility to determine your own schedule and rates, and there isn’t much overhead when starting your business. However, it takes time to build your clientele, so make sure you highlight your expertise and other relevant information on your site and include social proof where possible. 

12.  Instructor/Tutor

Covid-19 has changed the face of education, and now is a great time to start an online tutoring business. Parents everywhere are struggling to run their households, manage their careers, and act as secondary (or primary) teachers as their kids attend remote schooling.

If you’re knowledgeable and have a gift for teaching, why not help out in this time of increased need and get paid for it? All that’s required are a computer, a website, and a camera. You can conduct online lessons and tutoring sessions, and add helpful content to your site.

If you do well, your students’ parents will be your best advocates — touting your expertise and sharing your information with other parents in similar situations, and word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing tool.

13. Podcaster

Podcasts are insanely popular. In fact, almost 60% of U.S. consumers listen to podcasts.

If you like the sound of your own voice and think others may, too, then consider starting a podcast. All of us have stories to share and knowledge that we can impart to others.

To get started with podcasting, you’ll need the following:

• A quality microphone
• Software or tools to record audio
• Audio editing tools
• A website

To gain more listeners, try partnering with other more well-known podcasters or thought leaders as you get started. And don’t forget to encourage your listeners to leave reviews!

14. Domain Investor

You’ve heard of real estate investors, but did you know that domain investing is a thing?

Just like real estate properties, domains are great investments because a good domain name will only increase in value. Domain investing means buying domain names and then selling them for a greater amount.

Good domain names have to meet certain criteria, like being short, memorable, and brandable. Business owners will pay for the right domain name because domains are the core of a business’ digital identity. You’ll need to do your research before jumping into the world of domain investing, as you’ll be using your own funds to get started, and you don’t want to lose your money.

Luckily, there are many online resources that can help you get started with domain investing, and there are plenty of sites, like BuyDomains.com, that offer reasonably priced premium domain names which you can resell.

15.  Freelance Editor

Does the thought of correcting someone’s diction and syntax excite you? Do you have fond memories of red pens in the pre-digital era? Are you the person your friends rely on for reviewing and improving important documents?

Sounds like you’ll make a mighty fine freelance editor. Freelance editors take on many roles, from editing grammar to content, and even SEO.

To get started, you’ll want to create a site to showcase your work. Ask friends and family that have relied on you for editing services to provide testimonials, and reach out to businesses you think could benefit from your services. Your work as a freelance editor can be done from anywhere — at home, while traveling, or in a rented space, whatever you prefer.

Ready to start your online business?

There’s no better time than now to launch an online business. We hope these ideas have inspired you to get started and pursue your dreams!

Before investing your time and money in a new venture, it’s always a good idea to take the time to validate your business idea and create a business plan. This way, you’ll know exactly who your audience is, and the best way to conduct your enterprise.

Do you have any other online business ideas you’d like to share? Comment below!

2020 wasn’t kind to traditional retail models — malls and main streets have seen declining foot traffic for years, and the Coronavirus pandemic isn’t helping.

So, what’s an aspiring business owner to do?

Luckily, brick-and-mortar isn’t the end-all-be-all of business models. Instead of investing in a physical property, consider taking your small business dreams online.

Today, we’re taking a deep dive into dropshipping. It’s a great way to start your online business both quickly and easily. In fact, with dropshipping, you can start your business for as little as it costs to create and host a website.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the following questions and topics:

• What is dropshipping?
• What are the pros and cons of dropshipping?
• How do I find a dropshipping supplier?
• How do I determine what products to sell?
• What kind of website do I need for dropshipping?

What is dropshipping?

As you begin researching how to start an online business, you’ll come across the term “dropshipping.” But what does it mean?

Dropshipping is “a streamlined form of retail business wherein the seller accepts customer orders but does not keep goods sold in stock.” That may seem a bit confusing at first… how are you supposed to sell products when you don’t have any inventory? Is it a scam?

Hardly.

The dropshipping eCommerce model takes the fulfillment of customer orders out of your hands. Instead of paying for an inventory that may not sell and the storage fees to house it all, you’ll get your customers’ orders fulfilled at the source. This is usually done by a wholesaler, manufacturer, or 3^rd party vendor (i.e. – “dropshippers”), who’ll manage packaging and shipping the product to the customer. 

Dropshipping example

Renata is a makeup artist living in New York City. She wants to grow her career in her industry. In addition to teaching people how to enhance their natural beauty, she wants to provide them with the makeup and tools they need. As she researches how to start a business, she realizes she has a big problem. Where is she supposed to store all the goods in her 300 square foot apartment? Property is expensive in the city, and she can’t afford to take out a new lease for storage space.

Enter dropshipping. All Renata needs is an eCommerce website where she can adopt a dropshipping model. She selects the products she wants to sell, and every time someone orders makeup or tools from her site she passes that order along to the dropshipper. They then package and ship the item to the original customer. In this scenario, Renata never touches the product (and this process doesn’t have to be disclosed to the end buyer, so they’ll be none the wiser.)

The pros and cons of dropshipping.

Dropshipping, as convenient as it may be, isn’t for everyone. If you’re trying to determine the best eCommerce model for your online business, consider the following pros and cons. 

The benefits of dropshipping.

• There’s a low barrier to entry — all you really need is a website.
• When you choose to pursue dropshipping, you’re freeing yourself from the worries and obligations of manufacturing, inventory, fulfillment, leasing space, and staffing, thereby saving yourself from those substantial expenses.
• You have a greater ability to test products in the market. Since you aren’t buying products in bulk to store and sell, you can quickly adapt and change your offerings depending on market interests. If something isn’t selling, switch it out!
• It’s almost like having a passive income stream. In a traditional retail model, you’re responsible for every aspect of the transaction. With dropshipping, you can focus on other aspects of your business, like marketing, while customers shop your site and a 3^rd party fulfills it.
• Work from anywhere when you dropship. Want to work from the comfort of your couch? Go for it. Prefer a typical office environment? You can do that, too. Like working from exotic locations? That’s doable as well. You can be anywhere in the world and rest assured that your products are reaching your customers.
• No issues with logistics. Worried about having too much inventory to move? Or not enough in stock to meet demand? You don’t have to worry when you dropship — these issues are all taken care of on your behalf.
• You only pay when your customer does. With dropshipping, you only pay for products that your customer has already ordered and paid for, so you’re not losing money on stuff that doesn’t sell. 

The cons of dropshipping.

• There’s a low barrier to entry — all you really need is a website. This looks familiar, we know because we also listed this as a “pro” for dropshipping. Since the barrier to entry is so low, many people can start a dropshipping eCommerce business. If you’re using the same dropshippers and selling the same goods as everyone else, it’ll be difficult to stand out and succeed.
• There can be quality issues. Take this “con” with a grain of salt. If you don’t do your research and choose a poor dropshipper with a less-than-stellar reputation, you’re likely to have issues with your products. This issue can be avoided by researching your suppliers before entering into any agreements with them.
• Your products can change, and you’ll be none the wiser. Your supplier may decide to start using cheaper materials to craft products, or different packaging materials, and you’re likely not to know about it until a customer complains or asks about the change.
• You bear the brunt of customer returns. As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to handle customer complaints and product issues. If someone decides to return a product, they aren’t sending it back to the dropshipper, they send it back to you. You’ll be responsible for providing any refunds unless you have a no-refund policy (n.b. — that might not sit well with potential customers.)
• Shipping times can be lengthy. Amazon Prime, Instacart, and many other services offer near-immediate gratification with super fast shipping. Consumers understand that they may not get the same lightning fast shipping with a small business, but if your dropshipper is located on the other side of the world it can take weeks for products to arrive. Either choose a dropshipper with faster shipping times or be very transparent about shipping times prior to purchase. 
• If you’re selling the same products as everyone else, you may end up paying more for your SEO keywords to try and get a leg up on your competitors. 

How do I find a dropship supplier?

As with most things nowadays, an internet search is a good place to start. If you aren’t finding many options by searching “dropshippers” try going beyond page one of the search results, or expanding your search with other terms like “supplier” or “eCommerce distributor” along with terms relating to the products you’re interested in selling. 

Take time to review the dropshippers you find — have other customers left reviews? If so, do they trend positively or negatively? Find out what their average shipping time is, and always, always read any contracts thoroughly before signing. 

Can’t find what you want on the Internet? Don’t fret — just contact the manufacturer of your desired goods directly. Those manufacturers can provide you with information on their vendors and dropshippers, and perhaps even set up a connection. And then there’s always the possibility that they’ll work directly with you, so don’t hesitate to ask!

If you really want to make sure you’re choosing a reliable manufacturer and dropshipper, consider ordering some of your potential products for yourself and testing them out.

What kind of products should I sell on my eCommerce site? 

Want to know what kind of products you should be selling on your eCommerce website? Well, it depends on your market and more specifically, your niche. 

You aren’t going to succeed trying to be a jack-of-all-trades. Amazon and Walmart already exist, and as a small business owner, it’ll be hard to compete. 

Do your research instead of allowing your personal passions and interests to dictate your products. What does your ideal customer look like? By targeting a niche and understanding their spending habits, along with other demographics, you can cater the perfect selection of products to entice them into purchasing from your site. 

Another big thing to keep in mind is that you shouldn’t be thinking in terms of your own pocketbook. Just because something may seem a little too expensive for you, doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there willing to pay that amount. This is why market research is vitally important to your success. 

Need some ideas to start identifying products you can sell? Take a look at the following suggestions. 

• Items geared toward hobbyists. 
  • Hobbyists and side-hustlers are booming right now, and there are many who’d pay a pretty penny for a desirable item in their niche. 
• Clothing and accessories. 
  • People purchase clothing at unprecedented rates. If you’ve got an eye for style and trends, and know your market, this can be a lucrative path to follow. 
• Repeat purchases or subscriber products. 
  • What’s better than making a sale? Making multiple recurring sales. If you sell subscription products or products that need to be replaced often, you’re in a good position. 

What kind of website do I need for dropshipping?

Wondering what kind of website you need so that you can start your business? You’ve come to the right place, we’re experts on websites (and domains, obviously.)

When creating your website, you need to build it with the future in mind. If your thought process is something along the lines of, “I don’t have any customers yet, I’m going to get the most basic thing I can find,” then you’re not planning for your business growth or your future. 

If cost and pricing worry you, they shouldn’t. You can create great websites for less than the price of a couple of coffees. 

Here are things to consider when planning and creating your website:

• What is my domain name going to be? 
  • Your domain name is like the digital address for your site, and oftentimes the first impression someone has of your site. 
  • A good domain name is short, memorable, and relevant. Too many hyphens and random numbers, and no one will remember it meaning they won’t get to your site. 
  • Maybe you’ve heard that .com is king, but that isn’t necessarily true. A key tenant of a good domain name is relevance, so perhaps consider a .store or .shop for your eCommerce site. 
• Can you sell products with the plan you select?
  • Not all quick website creation plans offer the ability to sell goods and services online. Make sure yours does. 
• Hosting and bandwidth. 
  • As your website grows and gains more online traffic, you want to make sure everyone visiting your site has a good experience. If you don’t have great hosting or enough bandwidth for your visitors, it can make for a poor experience. (Think slow-loading pages and pages timing out.)
• Do I want to create it myself or hire someone?
  • At Domain.com, we offer a smart WebsiteBuilder that helps you get online with ease. Answer a few quick questions and our AI-powered builder will select the right layout (including images and initial content!) for your site. Don’t waste your precious time wading through tons of templates — let us help. 
    • It is important to compare the features and select the plan that best fits your needs, however for anyone intending to create an online store, the eCommerce Plan is going to be ideal. Not only does it include everything needed to sell goods, services, or even downloads of digital goods online, but also priority support to help ensure any issue you experience is resolved as quickly as possible.
  • Would you rather someone help you through the process of creating your website so you can focus on other aspects of your eCommerce dropshipping business? We can do that, too. Our experts can build you a beautiful site from start to finish, provide a strategic marketing plan that’s tailored to your needs, and teach you how to manage your site for long-term success. 

Ready to launch your eCommerce business?

We’re excited for you! We hope you’ve found this guide to dropshipping helpful, and let us know in the comments below if you have any questions. We’d also love to hear about what has and hasn’t worked for your eCommerce site so we can all learn from it. 

We wish you the best of luck and let us know if you need any help with creating your site — we’re here to help!

Many have used this time to strengthen their eCommerce operations as more and more people resort to online shopping. And with the holiday season upon us, this trend is gaining more traction.

According to a 2020 holiday predictions survey, 85% of the retailers interviewed estimated that online sales will increase in this holiday season as compared to 2019 and 55% said they are investing more in upgrading their eCommerce platforms.

It’s evident that this holiday season will take the competition to the next level while also posing new challenges for businesses to keep up with the increase in demand, handle shortages created by reduced scale of operations and, most importantly, build trust with new and existing customers.

This, in fact, is the perfect opportunity for businesses to gain the loyalty of wary online shoppers through a fulfilling and secure shopping experience.

Build Trust with Your eCommerce Customers.

Whether you’re a seasoned eCommerce company or have recently started your online store, these five trust-building tips will help you make the most of this pandemic-fraught holiday season.

1. Reassure customers about safety

The pandemic has everyone on the edge about the transmission of COVID-19 through physical contact. Physical distancing rules are either firmly in place or strongly recommended. Several companies have come up with a strict contact-less delivery policy to allow people to reap the benefits of home delivery without hesitation.

If your business has such a policy in place, along with other rules of how products are handled from packing to delivery and safety measures followed in your workplace, such as wearing of gloves, masks, and other protective equipment, make sure you communicate them clearly to your customers.

A great idea is to send an email about it to all of your subscribers to show them that their safety is your primary concern.

Moreover, communicate these policies to each and every member of your team and make sure that everyone is on board to make this virtual holiday shopping season safe for customers as well as staff. 

2. Be transparent about delays

The competition in eCommerce makes it mandatory for businesses to be well-stocked at all times and offer the quickest, most hassle-free delivery possible.

However, most eCommerce companies rely on third parties such as suppliers, warehousing facilities, delivery management agencies, and customer support. Often, delays are caused by situations that are not in your hands.

Several companies had to press pause on their operations during the pandemic and while business is bouncing back now, companies are still at different stages of resuming their operations. This means that not everyone is operating at full capacity, which can lead to longer wait times than usual.

People, too, have become more patient with such inevitable delays but as a brand that cares about its customers, it is your duty to be transparent about any issues that impact their shopping experience.

Make sure you communicate realistic wait times so that people don’t have unrealistic expectations that set them up for disappointment. If a product is out of stock and it will take time for you to obtain it, let the customer know, offer alternatives, and reward their patience with a discount or a freebie.

3. Improve your website experience

If you’ve been considering a website revamp, this is the perfect time to do so. Here are three things to keep in mind when you’re looking to improve your website’s user experience.

Unique Landing Page

To highlight the merriment of the holiday season, you could create a unique landing page where you highlight all your start products that are perfect for holiday shopping.

To give it an additional flavor of branding, you could give this landing page a unique domain name such as www.holidaybonanza.store or www.merrytimes.fun. New domain extensions such as .store, .online, .fun, and .space, can add that extra spark in your branding.

Speed of site and service

People have little patience when it comes to browsing the Internet. Keep bounce rates low by ensuring that your website loads in less than 5 seconds. Optimize image sizes so that they load quickly. Remove all unnecessary plugins and make sure that the built-in apps for payments and other features are not slowing you down.

Optimize for mobile

While there’s nothing like your own mobile application, you can still create memorable mobile shopping experiences by optimizing your website for mobile devices. Before you start your holiday season campaign, see how your website loads and looks on different devices such as computers, phones, and tablets. Take steps to ensure it loads quickly, the alignments are proper, and that scrolling and browsing are easy.

4. Offer quick checkout

Customers have a lot to accomplish when they’re shopping during the holiday season and you can help them save time by offering a short and sweet checkout.

Simple process

The fewer steps in your checkout process, the less likely people are to abandon their shopping carts. Limit your checkout process to no more than three steps: name and address, purchase review, and payment.

Guest checkout

Every brand likes to gather contact information of their customers to get to know them better and continue to attract them with personalized offers and deals.

However, not every customer feels comfortable sharing their email address especially if they’re doing business with you for the first time.

Some customers just want to make the purchase and be done with it and they shouldn’t feel like they’re being compelled to create an account with you. Provide a guest checkout option to make shopping easy and stress-free for everyone.

Multiple payment options

People have different preferences when it comes to online payments. Some are apprehensive about divulging their card details to different companies. Some prefer online bank transfers. Others use third-party apps such as PayPal or Google Pay. Make sure you cater to all preferences by providing as many payment options as possible.

5. Secure your site

Several people are skeptical of online shopping for security reasons. They are unsure about what might happen when they need to input sensitive information such as personal details and credit card or bank account numbers when making online purchases.

As more people may resort to online shopping due to the closure of physical stores and for health safety concerns, eCommerce companies must reassure buyers that their information is safe at every step of the way.

If you haven’t obtained an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate for your website, this is the time to do so. This certificate ensures safe transmission of encrypted data from browsers to websites.

Websites that don’t have SSL of HTTPS in their URL are flagged as “insecure” by Google when a user tries to access them. This message can raise suspicion among visitors and discourage them from shopping on your website.

Apart from the SSL certificate, you should also display security seals across your payment pages, such as badges by trusted companies like Visa, Mastercard, Google, and PayPal so that people feel safe about sharing their sensitive bank account information.

Ready to make the most of the holiday eCommerce season?

The holiday season is always an exciting time for people and businesses, but this one is slated to be unlike any other. For people, it is an opportunity to connect with their loved ones after a difficult year, even if just through gifts or virtual meetings.

For businesses, it is an opportunity to make up for the losses suffered so far. By building trust among customers through safety measures and enhanced online shopping experience, businesses not only stand to increase their revenue but also evolve as players to watch out for in the eCommerce playing field.

Author Bio

Alisha is a Senior Content Marketing & Communication Specialist at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .STORE and .TECH. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

So, are you taking advantage of that fact to get in front of your audience?

We hate to break it to you, but if you’re not, you’re at a disadvantage. 

In this post, we’ll explain how your eCommerce efforts can benefit from email marketing. We’ll provide some tips on growing and segmenting your email lists, give a few pointers on email design, and briefly discuss your email cadence.

Using Email Marketing to Support eCommerce

Are you finding that despite your best efforts you aren’t making the profits that you’d like from your website?

It’s a tough reality that many business and website owners face. And it’s understandable considering you probably don’t have a six or seven-figure marketing budget. How are you supposed to compete with the big guys?

We recommend using email marketing and adding a sign-up form on your website. According to MarketingSherpa, “More than seven in 10 (72 percent) U.S. adults indicate a preference for companies to communicate with them via email.” There’s a lot of opportunity in that number, so don’t miss out.

Why use email marketing?

Let’s consider why people are visiting your website in the first place. 

To start, they have to be interested in you, which is great. They’re visiting your site because they want to learn more about you or they want to purchase from you. By providing an email sign-up form on site you’re giving them an opportunity to stay connected with you after they leave. 

You’re also giving them an easy way to keep you top-of-mind so they can come back to your site in the future.

Oh, and did we mention that email marketing has a return of $38 for every dollar that you spend on it?

How to Use Email Marketing on Your Site

Here are two things you must do if you want to make the most of email marketing on your site.

1. Make your sign up form easily accessible.
   1. Having a sign-up form for your email list on your homepage is great. But having it available across all the pages of your website is even better. Many people arrive at websites after finding them in an online search. Oftentimes, these people aren’t taken to your home page, but land deeper within your site, like on a blog post. Don’t miss out on capturing their email addresses by only providing a sign-up form on one page of your website.
2. Communicate value.
   1. Big, blocky letters that scream, “Sign up for my list!” aren’t cutting it anymore. By providing more context and value in your call-to-action (CTA) for people to join your list, you better the chances that they’ll be interested and driven to sign up. Wouldn’t you be more inclined to sign up for a list that promised, “Discounts, deals, and insider info — for subscribers only!”?

Designing Your Emails

Take a second to think of some well-known businesses and brands, like McDonald’s or Coca-Cola. Mickey D’s golden arches and Coke’s red colors are instantly recognizable. 

If you were to get an email from one of those businesses in a blue and gold color and written in Comic Sans, would you open it? Probably not, because that doesn’t match the idea we have of those brands and you might think they’re spam emails. 

Spam emails are a huge issue that people deal with every day, and you don’t want them to think your emails are spam, too. 

To avoid that, try doing the following:

• Use a template.
  • Consistency is key. You want your subscribers to immediately recognize your emails and know who they’ve come from. Don’t change your colors, logo, and branding on each and every email as your customers won’t know what to expect and may unsubscribe from your emails thinking they’re spam.
• Pro-tip: Make sure your website name and domain name match, too! When they see your domain name in their inbox, they’ll recognize your trusted business. 

Your key takeaway should be that the more consistency you can provide for your customers the better they’ll remember you.

What should I include in my emails?

If you’re wondering what to put in your emails to drive sales, we can help with that.

Here are some ideas that you can use to help strengthen your relationship with your email subscribers so that they’ll be more invested in you and your site.

• Coupons and offers
  • Everyone loves to feel special. Let your subscribers know that they made the right decision to let you into their inbox by giving them a special discount or coupon to use on your site.
• Expertise and know-how
  • Are you the expert in your field or about what you sell? Show off those smarts! Use your email to convey interesting, valuable information about your products or services to capture your audience’s attention and inspire trust in you.
• Images
  • Use images in your emails to help convey what words can’t. If you’re selling products and talking about them in your emails then showcase a few.
• Clear CTA
  • Use buttons in your emails to provide clear, distinct call-to-actions. Want someone to purchase a product through a link in your email? Label it “Buy Now” so there’s no confusion on their part about what you’d like for them to do.

How Frequently and When Should I Email?

Some days and times are better for sending email marketing campaigns than others. However, finding the times that are best for you involves some trial and error. 

Your audience may prefer to open emails after work hours or before they start their day. If you’re using an email marketing service, you’ll have an opportunity to review your email performance and stats, and can determine when most people are opening your emails. Use this data to inform your future email campaigns. 

When it comes to email cadence, or the frequency at which you send email newsletters, there’s one rule you need to follow: Don’t inundate your subscribers. Start slow, emailing them weekly or bi-weekly and you can increase your cadence from there. 

As you change your email cadence, keep an eye on your stats and reporting. Look for patterns in the data — do people stop opening your emails when you send more often or do they mark them as spam? Those are big indicators that you need to send less frequently. 

Email Marketing and Websites Work Together to Boost eCommerce

When it comes to business, you need to be where your customers are. Meet them in their inbox and provide them with information and links back to your site. 

Email marketing helps you build a rapport with your customers (and potential customers) and can bring them back to your site to transact. 

Do you use email marketing as part of your eCommerce strategy? What does or doesn’t work for you? We’d love to know, so comment below!

At the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, internet usage increased dramatically. While this increase has begun to taper off, some social media platforms are expected to see “a more sustained boost,” and Instagram is one of them.

That’s great news for anyone with an online store because Instagram is the perfect platform to showcase your eCommerce goods and drive more sales. And there’s no better time than the present to start marketing to the platform’s highly-engaged users.

Stick around as we dive into how to use Instagram for eCommerce in this post. Today, we’re covering best practices for setting up your Instagram business profile, tips for presenting your products in Instagram posts and stories, hashtag best practices, and talking about Instagram influencers.

Using Instagram for eCommerce

Ready to get your business on Instagram? Hootsuite reports that Instagram has over 1 billion active monthly users, 63% of them log in at least once per day, and 200 million of them visit at least one business profile daily.

Those are some impressive stats.

Once upon a time, Facebook was a great platform for brands and organic engagement. Nowadays, not so much. But the same can’t be said for Instagram. Brands and businesses can do exceptionally well for themselves on the image and video-forward platform, and we’re rooting for you to do the same.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? 

Setting up an Instagram Business Account

Back in the day, everyone had a basic, personal Instagram profile. They weren’t anything fancy, and allowed for a short bio at the top of your profile and then your feed. My, how times have changed.

In 2016 Instagram introduced business profiles, and that’s opened up a whole world of possibilities for eCommerce and online retailers.

If you’re using a personal account for your business, don’t worry, you can easily convert it into a business account. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your Instagram account.
2. Click on your profile icon.
3. From your profile, click on the hamburger menu (the three lines at the top of the screen) and select “Settings.”
4. From your settings, click “Account” and then “Switch to professional account.”
5. Select either “Creator” or “Business” (there’ll be a description helping you decide what option is best.)
6. Click “Continue.”

And there you have it; your Instagram account is now all set up for your business.

If you don’t have an Instagram account at all, go ahead and download the app on iOS, Android, or Windows. Sign up for a new account and then follow the steps listed above to convert it into a business account. 

Perfecting Your Instagram Profile

Now that you’ve set up your account, let’s make it appealing to potential followers and customers. The first thing you’ll need to do is create an awesome bio. 

Instagram Bio Tips

Your bio should meet a few guidelines, like the following:

• It’s written in your brand tone. (Is your brand voice helpful? Light-hearted? Serious?)
• It’s appealing to your target audience.
  • Not sure what your target audience looks like? Let’s go back to your business idea and plan to determine that information.
• It’s succinct, but still explains what your business (or brand) is all about (like what you do and what you stand for.)
• IT INCLUDES A LINK!
  • Instagram allows for one link in your profile, so make it count.
  • There are 3^rd party tools that can turn your single link into a link tree to support your various posts; however, they’re an additional cost and you’ll need to do your research to select the best solution for your needs.

Instagram Profile Picture Tips

You want your Instagram profile picture to be instantly recognizable. There’s no point in choosing an image that can be mistaken for another business or account, and most businesses will use their logo or logomark (that’s just your logo without any of the words normally accompanying it). If you have a business mascot (e.g. Tony the Tiger) feel free to use that, too.

Your profile picture displays at 110 x 100 pixels and has a 1:1 aspect ratio (upload a square image), but it will be cropped into a circle, so keep that in mind when choosing your image. If you’d like your image to look a little crisper, try uploading an image at a higher resolution.

Now that you have your profile set up appropriately, let’s look at how to craft the best posts and present your goods in the best light possible. If increasing eCommerce sales is your goal, your products need to look appealing. 

How to Take the Best Photos, Videos, and Stories for Instagram

Keep your products and profile looking sharp with the following tips. 

It’s All About the Lighting

When it comes to product photos (or any photos), lighting is essential!

Natural lighting is great, but the tricky part is that you can’t control it. Direct sunlight seems like a great idea, yet the issue is that it can create harsh shadows in your images. Try finding a place at home or in your office with great natural lighting to stage your photos.

If you can’t find a place that offers good natural lighting, don’t fret. There are plenty of affordable options that can help you achieve your desired lighting. 

Backgrounds for images

Don’t let busy, distracting backgrounds steal the show from your products! Try using white (or solid-colored) foam board from your local arts and crafts store to create a backdrop, or purchase some seamless photo backdrop paper.

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency

Your photos should maintain some consistency throughout. Using similar backgrounds for styled photos, similar lighting effects, and the same photography tools (it can be as simple as using the same smartphone camera and settings each time) all give a cohesive appearance to your photos.

Having consistency in style doesn’t mean you can’t have any variety. In addition to product photos, try including some lifestyle images that show your products in use. Lifestyle images are relatable because people can see themselves taking the action that’s encapsulated in your photo, and lets them see the product in use. 

Create Better Instagram Videos and Stories

Videos on your main Instagram feed can range from 3 to 60 seconds, and you can upload 15-second-long video content in Instagram Stories (you can upload multiple 15-second videos, you’re not limited to one.) If you’re going to use video, make sure it tells a story.

Just like your product photos, lighting matters for videos. We recommend natural lighting, if possible, and to always keep it in front of you, not behind and casting awkward shadows.

Not sure what kind of videos to post? Here are some ideas.

• Showcase your products in action.
• Create sneak previews.
• Highlight benefits.
• Showcase what happens behind the scenes.
• Offer helpful advice or tutorials.
• Create a series.

How to Write Descriptions for Your Instagram Post

Now, if you followed our tips in the previous section, we know your photos and videos are looking good. Once you have your photos ready to post, you need to think about what you’ll write in the description.

We can’t tell you exactly what to write since it’ll depend on your product, but here are tips to keep in mind.

• Keep your voice consistent.
  • Whether or not you realize it, your brand has a voice. Your voice can be helpful or direct, casual or professional, or any variety of qualities (depends on your audience and market) — but consistency is key.
• Don’t get super sales-y.
  • You don’t want potential customers slamming their digital doors in your face (or rather, unfollowing you), so keep things conversational.
• Make some room.  
  • When your words are all bunched together with no space between them thingsgetalittlehardtoread. Use line breaks or  e x t r a   s p a c e s  when you want to highlight an important part of your description.
• Use emojis to add visuals and add impact to your text.
• Get creative to highlight important features.
  • You can use asterisks (*) or other marks (~, –) to draw attention to specific parts of your text.

Leverage the power of hashtags

Social media platforms reward posts that get good engagement. If you want your post to be seen by a broader audience (and rack up those ♥️s), then use hashtags.

Hashtags should be relevant to the post you create. If you use hashtags that have a large following but are irrelevant to your post, then the audience isn’t going to engage with it.

A good thing to do is look for other accounts that are in an industry similar to yours. Scope your competitors’ accounts to find what hashtags they’re using, or search Instagram for hashtags you think are relevant to see if they’re popular.

When adding hashtags to your posts, write them so that they’re accessible to all. If your hashtags are a long string of uncapitalized words, then screen readers will think they are just one long word. If you capitalize the different words in your hashtags then screen readers can make sense of them and people who can’t see the screen can still hear the words as they should be.

#YouGotThis #LetsMoveOn 

Instagram and Influencers

Can you think of Instagram without associating it with influencers?

Probably not.

Influencer marketing “is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level on knowledge or social influence in their field.”

Using influencers to spread the word about your brand or products is a good strategy if done well. You see, there are oodles of people who call themselves “influencers” but not all of them really are. The thing about influencers is that they actually have to hold some sway and authority in their niche. Many people have huge followings, but that doesn’t make them great influencers.

If you want to find a good influencer that meets your needs and can convince people in your niche to purchase from you, use the following tips.

• Look for the “authority figures.”
  • Let’s say you’re opening a local game shop. You’re selling board games, but also some games that have cult-like followings, like Magic the Gathering. Join social media groups and follow hashtags relevant to those players and you’ll find the people who are most vocal and most respected in their knowledge. Reach out to them to ask for their help in spreading the word about your products and ask them to be an influencer for you. (Keep in mind, no one works for free.)
• Don’t say “Yes” right away, vet your influencers.
  • Influencers (especially faux-influencers) LOVE reaching out to brands to ask for freebies and goodies in return for exposure. Just because someone is offering to be an influencer doesn’t make them a good fit for your brand.
  • Vet your potential influencers by looking at their account. Do they promote anything and everything? They’re probably just looking for free stuff. You want someone who maintains your brand’s position and aesthetic.

Once you’ve identified the influencers you’d like to work with, reach out with a friendly email or private message. Tell them why you want to work with them — is it their authenticity? Their personal brand? Make your messages relevant and meaningful to the person you’re engaging with. Ask them about their rates or tell them what you’re offering. And make sure to ask how to move the arrangement forward. 

Make your Instagram account shoppable

If your overarching goal is to increase your eCommerce sales on Instagram, then you need to make it as easy as possible for your audience to purchase.

Instagram isn’t super helpful in offering only one link in your profile, but the platform makes up for it in other ways. Not too long ago, they introduced something called “Instagram Shopping.”

Instagram Shopping “gives your business an immersive storefront for people to explore your best products. With Instagram Shopping, you can share featured products through your organic posts and Stories, or have people discover your products in Search & Explore.”

Shoppable posts include a product tag, that when clicked, brings your viewer to a product description page. That page includes additional information like a description, cost, and a link that takes people directly to your site where they can purchase.

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

One thing to note about Instagram Shopping is that it isn’t available to everyone just yet. In order to use the feature, you have to meet the following criteria:

• Your business must be located in a supported market.
• Your business must sell physical goods.
• You must comply with Facebook’s commerce policies (Facebook owns Instagram, and your shoppable “catalog of goods” for Instagram is set up through Facebook.)
• You must have a business account (good thing we went through the steps to set one up!)
• Your account must be connected to a Facebook Page.

If your account meets those parameters you’ll want to move on to the next step of connecting your Instagram business profile to your Facebook catalog.

This guide from Facebook walks you through the final steps to create your catalog so you can use Instagram Shopping.

Go forth and make money on Instagram

Ready to increase those eCommerce sales on Instagram? Now you should be!

To support your brand’s digital presence, and use cool features like Instagram Shopping, make sure you have a website created. Our AI-powered, easy-to-use WebsiteBuilder helps small business owners create beautiful, functional websites in a snap. 

Do you have any additional tips for Instagram and eCommerce? Share them with us in the comments below!

●  You’ve grown so much that you’re struggling to keep up with customer demands.

●  Your growth has plateaued.

Planning for future growth is crucial for any online business. In today’s time, entrepreneurs have to be prepared to face any unexpected challenges. That’s how you become a leader and stand out in your niche.

The only hiccup here is: preparing your exponential future growth demands a lot of time and patience.

But — it’s not as difficult as you think.

Having a vision for the future and making smart decisions from day one can help you build a scalable business model that can make a significant difference in the longevity of your business.

In this article, we explore five ways you can take your online business to the next level.

How to scale your online business

1. Get your foundation right

This involves two things — your domain name and your website. These form the foundation upon which your online business stands. Your domain name is your business’s online identity. It’s the address that you communicate in presentations, on your business cards, on your banner ads, in a podcast, and more. Registering your domain name is the sign that your idea is now a business.

When registering your domain name, think about how you can make your website more brandable. This doesn’t mean you www.stuffallthekeywordsinyourdomainname.com.

It means making use of new domain extensions that are more meaningful, industry-specific, category-defining, relevant, and most importantly, keyword-rich. For example, a technology startup could opt for a .TECH domain name, an e-commerce business could go for a .STORE domain name, a creative agency could choose .SPACE. And if you’re looking for a more versatile and open name then you could go with .ONLINE or .SITE.

These domain extensions give you a domain name that’s brandable and meaningful to your business. Add a well-made, fully-functional website to this concoction and you have a strong online foundation to build and scale your business.

2. Always plan for the future

Building a business and planning go parallel to each other. That’s because planning is vital to your business whether you’re on day one or year one.

A good way to plan ahead is to start by setting realistic goals for growth. These could be yearly goals that are further broken down into smaller quarterly goals. Doing a simple exercise such as this gives you time to prepare for the coming weeks.

As you start preparing for these goals, you’ll be able to outline the resources and features that you’ll need to move to the next level. Here are some components that you can factor into your plan:

●  Possible resources that you might need.

●  Digital marketing goals.

●  Customer acquisition plan.

All these components will all come down to one key factor: budget.

3. Arrange for funding and spend wisely

A great option here would be to get featured on Shark Tank and get the necessary funding, however, that’s not an approach most online businesses can take advantage of.

Most small business entrepreneurs have one big responsibility to run and scale their business: secure the right amount of funding and collateral.

One of the options here could be bootstrapping where you either dig into your personal savings, take a loan from family members and friends, or get crowdfunding through sources such as Kickstarter.

Another way for entrepreneurs to get funding is to pitch to investors. While investors can provide great value to your business in terms of funding, valuable advice, resources; they’ll also take part ownership of your company.

Most small businesses opt for the latter, however, if you’re unsure about partnering with an investor then you could consider other options such as scholarships and grants. Many large organizations offer scholarships to startups and small businesses. These can range from $5k and up to a larger sum to help you reach the next level.

A few that you could consider include:

●  Fundbox Small Business Funding Scholarship

●  FedEx Small Business Grant Contest

●  U.S. Small Business Administration Grants

4. Study your analytics

Monitoring your business performance gives you a clear insight into the speed of your growth. Sales performance is one of the first metrics you should be studying when your objective is to scale.

●  Is your sales trend healthy?

●  How fast are your sales growing?

●  During what period do you see a spike in sales?

●  What do you attribute that growth to?

Strong sales performance is a key indicator of the overall health of your online business. If your metrics are positive and growing, then you know your business is scaling.

Other important metrics that you could consider to measure business growth are:

●  Primary platforms – which platforms are bringing in the most sales / new customers?

●  Product performance – which products or plans (in case of a service) are your top sellers? Is there an opportunity to add another feature to your product/service?

●  Lifetime Value:Cost per Acquisition (LTV:CAC) – how effective is your marketing? Can you justify the cost per customer acquisition?

Having a strong grip on your analytics will give you confidence and a competitive advantage when pitching to investors. It’ll also give you enough data to justify any expenses on updated technology or tools.

5. Determine your resources

The more you grow, the more resources you’ll need to manage your online business. These resources could be human or technological.

Here are two instances where you might want to invest in human resources.

1. If you’re looking to build a strong content marketing strategy and build a strong company blog, you may want to consider hiring an experienced SEO professional, a content manager, and a few freelancers who can write good content that can help you lead the search results.

1. If you’re looking to build your community on social media, you may want to consider hiring a professional who understands the nitty-gritty of all the social platforms. Someone who can curate engaging posts, drive engagement, and target relevant audiences on different platforms.

For technical resources, let’s explore these two examples.

1. While you could hire an agency to manage your accounts and keep track of your expenses, you could save time by getting a simple accounting software that can do all this and more.

1. As your business grows, so will your customer queries. Instead of managing a customer line that receives an overwhelming amount of calls in a day, you could install a chatbot on your website that could resolve basic customer queries 24×7.

Identifying areas where you can be more productive will help you prioritize your investments. However, once you do invest in these resources, ensure to check their performance periodically to make sure that you’re getting value for your spend.

Ready to scale your online business?

Your next step from here is to get started!

Carve out a plan and list down all the resources that you might need to scale your business.

●  Create systems and processes.

●  Look for investment and other income streams.

●  Find new clients and collaborators.

●  Have the time to step back, relax, and work on your own development.

Author Bio

Alisha is a Senior Content Marketing & Communication Specialist at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .STORE and .TECH. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

No matter how beautiful and functional your site is, you can’t gain traction and build a successful business if no one knows about it. Sure, you can craft a few social media posts and create some flyers, but those ad hoc efforts won’t result in much if they aren’t part of a larger, strategic business marketing plan.

If you’re not a trained marketer, the idea of creating a marketing plan for your business can seem intimidating. Where do you begin and what’s included?

Rest assured, you can write a great marketing plan, and we’re going to help.

In this post, we’ll start by defining what a marketing plan is, then we’ll discuss the different elements that make up a marketing plan, and finally, we’ll provide tips so you can craft the best plan possible.

Creating a Business Marketing Plan

What is a business marketing plan? It’s a strategic document that outlines how you’ll communicate your products and services to your audience. It details what you’re setting out to accomplish, why you’re doing it, how you’ll get there, and in what time frame.

Marketing plans aren’t static documents, they are actionable guides that can and should be edited and reworked when necessary.  

Your plan helps take the guesswork out of connecting with prospective customers — it serves as a roadmap for your marketing efforts and ensures you aren’t throwing money away on random tactics. Unless you have plenty of disposable income (and who does?), you want to know that the money you invest in marketing is well-spent.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Keep in mind that no two marketing plans are exactly alike. Depending on your business and specific needs, you may end up with a more simple or complex plan. But regardless of its length and complexity, your plan should always be backed by research and data.

Let’s look at what you need to have prepared in order to write a business marketing plan. 

Preparing to write your business marketing plan

Before you sit down to write your marketing plan, you should have an idea of what data supports and informs it. Take a look at the following list and make sure to have this information handy as it will help guide the shape your plan takes.   

Your business’s mission statement

A mission statement sets the tone for your business. It’s a short, and to-the-point statement that describes the purpose of your business and it informs your business decisions.   

Ideal customer persona

Your ideal customer persona, also called a buyer persona, is like an archetype of your perfect customer. Creating a customer persona gives you a better understanding of their needs and how to address them.

This persona should include actionable information, like:

• Their demographics (age, income, location, etc.).
• Goals and challenges.
• Their interests.
• Any relevant behavioral traits.

Your customer persona should give insight into how you can better communicate with your prospective customers — from where you can find them to share your message (i.e. on social media) to what language you should use (for example, avoiding jargon and buzzwords.)

Target market information

Identifying your target market is a lot like identifying your ideal customer persona; however, there are a few key differences.

While they both involve demographics and psychographics, your target market deals with a broader group of potential and prospective customers. Your target market could be people in a certain age or income bracket, whereas your ideal customer represents a more segmented piece of that market. 

General market information

When we talk about knowing your general marketing information, we’re talking about your customers, competitors, suppliers, along with industry news and trends.

Look at your competitors, the businesses offering products and services similar to yours, and try to identify the following things:

• What are they doing well?
• What are they doing poorly?
• Do you know what their customers look like?
• What differentiates you from them?
• What marketing materials do they use?
• Where do they share their message?

Knowing these things helps you understand what works and prevents you from making their mistakes.

Have you taken the time to know your suppliers? What’s available to you and when? This helps you plan your inventory and can help as your business picks up and demand grows.

Keeping your finger on the pulse of your industry is always a good idea. It helps to know when there are new trends you can capitalize on, and it can provide insight into your own products and processes.

Your business goals

Your business marketing plan exists to support your business goals. It’s never a bad idea to restate your goals and come back to them often. This keeps them front-of-mind and helps you craft a marketing plan that ultimately supports your goals.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 

Business marketing plan elements

Now that you’ve prepared, it’s time to work on drafting your marketing plan.

Not all marketing plans look exactly the same — you can create email marketing plans, social media marketing plans, and various others. Below, we’ll provide a basic framework you can use to create a general business marketing plan, but feel free to customize or tweak it for more specialized marketing plans.  

1. Description of your business and goals.
2. Describe your target market and ideal buyer persona.
3. Defining SMART goals.
4. Marketing tactics.
5. Measuring success.
6. Roles and responsibilities.

1. Description of your business and goals

The first step in writing any business marketing plan is to lay the groundwork.

Your mission statement helps direct your business, and it helps direct your marketing plan, too. Don’t use your general mission statement in your plan; instead, adapt it so that you have a similar statement to set the tone for your marketing plan.

For example, HomeChef’s mission statement is “to make cooking fresh food at home as easy as possible.” That could be turned into a marketing mission statement by editing it so that it reads, “to engage an audience of amateur and time-starved home cooks, educate them on the joys of cooking, and turn them into subscribers of our service.”

In one fell swoop, you’ve both set out your mission statement and created a goal that the rest of your plan will help support. 

2. Describe your target market and ideal buyer persona

There are people out there who need and want your services, but they don’t know about you yet: Who are they?

Let’s continue with the example we used above — in that statement, we’ve identified that we’re looking to market to an audience of “amateur and time-starved home cooks.”

This section should address that market: Where do you find these people? What are their worries and how can your product or service answer their needs? What do they “look like” (demographics, income, etc.)?

This is also a good time to think about your competition. How do you stand out in your target market? Do you have a unique selling proposition (USP) that differentiates you from other similar businesses? If you don’t know what sets you apart then it’s going to be difficult to target your market and make sales.

All of this information helps you think of, discover, and revise your marketing strategies and tactics, which we’ll get into shortly. 

3. Define your S.M.A.R.T. goals

Smart goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. They make you think practically and realistically, breaking down lofty ideas into achievable goals.

Your marketing mission statement is a great starting place when drafting your specific goals. In our example, we said that our mission is “to engage an audience of amateur and time-starved home cooks, educate them on the joys and techniques of cooking, and turn them into subscribers of our service.”

Now, it’s your job to think of how that can be turned into more specific, actionable goals. We’ll share an example to give you an idea of how it’s done.

We know our target audience cooks at home, but they’re often at a loss for time and might not know all the proper cooking techniques. In researching their behaviors, we discovered that they use certain social media channels for meal ideas. With this information, we can create the following smart goal:

• Set aside one hour each week to create short videos that illustrate our simple, delicious recipes, and share those on social media to create interest in our service.

That goal shows you understand your need to create brand awareness and are sensitive to your ideal customer’s time and abilities, and that you know where to find them online. It also gives you a concrete, achievable goal that you can easily put into practice. 

4. Marketing tactics

Fundamentally, your marketing strategy is designed to promote your products and services so that you can convert customers.  

Your marketing tactics are the specific things you do to support your overall strategy and plan, and can be made up of many different activities, like the following:

• Public relations
• Online marketing
  • Social Media
  • Email
  • Website
• Sales and promotions
• Other marketing materials

You can use this section of your plan to detail the tactics and channels you’ll use to communicate your marketing messages in support of your smart goals. 

5. Measuring success

As a small business owner, you don’t have the time or energy to invest in wasted marketing efforts. Implementing KPIs, or key performance indicators is a great way to measure the efficacy of your marketing and helps you understand what’s working and what isn’t.

If one of your goals is to increase brand awareness through the use of social media, then you might want to consider social share of voice as a KPI. Social share of voice (SSoV) helps you understand how much people are talking about you versus others in your industry. If your SSoV increases on platforms where you share your marketing messages, you can assume that your strategy and tactics are working.

If you’re running a seasonal promotion on certain products, you can look to your click-through rates and conversion rates to see if they drove any increase in traffic and sales on your site. Google Analytics is a great, free tool that can help you understand your website performance. 

6. Roles and responsibilities

Do you require others to help support and implement your marketing plan? Use this final section to define what everyone’s responsibilities are so there’s no question or debate.

Implement your business marketing plan

And there you go! Using this guide, you should be able to craft a business marketing plan that helps direct your efforts so you can achieve your goals.  

Do you have any tips and tricks to share with other entrepreneurs as they craft their marketing plans? If so, share them in the comments below and let us know what’s worked for you.

If you have been mulling over the idea of launching your online store, now’s the time to get started. However, be mindful and realistic about the stiff competition that you may have to face and how you plan to combat it.

One of the first things you need to consider is how you will design and develop your e-commerce website where you’ll deliver a seamless, easy and intuitive buying experience.

Mentioned below are eight things you need to keep in mind when creating your website.

8 elements of a successful e-commerce website.

1. Find the right online identity for your website.

There are thousands of websites selling similar products, offering impeccable services and aggressively vying for the attention of the customers. So, how do you differentiate?

Smaller details play a huge role here. For example, for two e-commerce stores selling similar merchandise, the domain name can be a key differentiator. One website could be www.comictees.com and another could be www.comictee.store.

Which one of these two websites would you say for sure is an e-commerce store?

A simple domain extension such as .store can help you stand out and create a unique space for yourself in the industry. With a category-defining domain extension such as .store, you immediately establish that you’re an e-commerce website that’s selling something.

It gives you a unique opportunity to brand and market yourself differently.

2. Match your website design with the products.

Every website needs to be aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. However, as an e-commerce website, it is even more crucial that its look and feel is in sync with what you’re selling.

For instance, if you are selling niche tech products, your website’s design should ideally include crisp visuals or animations, clean lines and digital fonts. A loud or cluttered design may not help you attract the right audience.

On the contrary, if you are selling casual apparel and home accessories, use of bold, bright colors and playful fonts will do a better job of reflecting your fun personality.

3. Showcase your products properly.

In a physical store, customers are able to see, touch and try out products and speak to experts to gain a better understanding. This is not possible on an e-commerce website. Therefore, it is your duty to make sure that the customers have all the information they need to be able to create an accurate picture of the product in their heads and make an informed decision.

• Use large, clear and high-quality images of the products you are selling.
• Include images in various angles so that people can examine the product properly.
• Ensure the colors and sizes in the images truly depict the actual product.

Apart from images, you must highlight the key features of the product such as:

• Different ways in which it can be used.
• Tips to take care of it.
• The audience it is intended for. 
• Its warranty period

For instance, if you are selling clothing, your product information should include size, material, washing instructions, brand name and information (in case you are selling multiple brands). Make sure to include a size chart because sizes vary across different brands. Images of models wearing the clothes will allow people to better picture what they intend to buy. Some items do not qualify for returns, so make sure you clearly indicate that information.

4. Provide an easy checkout process.

A lengthy and complicated checkout process can cause people to abandon their shopping carts without completing the purchase. Ideally, your checkout should include no more than three steps:

Step 1: Basic information such as name, email address and phone number

Step 2: Shipping address

Step 3: Payment information

You can provide customers with the option of creating an account on your website as it provides valuable information about them, allows you to track their purchases, customise your communication and personalize recommendations.

However, don’t make it mandatory. Several customers, especially first-timers, are wary of giving out too many personal details and forcing them to do so may make them abandon their purchase.

5. Provide multiple payment options

Different customers prefer different modes of payment. Many of them may only be comfortable using a credit card. Yet others will want to pay by an eWallet or by card on delivery. They may not feel comfortable divulging their card information on the Internet or they may want to receive and see the physical product before they pay. As a business, do the best you can to cater to all kinds of customers and thus provide as many viable payment options as possible.

6. Secure your e-commerce website.

Security is of utmost concern when you’re running an eCommerce website. Your customers are required to share sensitive information pertaining to their address and credit/debit cards and any compromise of such information can put them in grave difficulty. It can also potentially ruin your business.

Every website that collects the personal information of others needs a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, this provides a secure channel over which sensitive information is transmitted. It will further assure customers that their private details are safe on your website. If your website URL begins with HTTP and not HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure), that’s another sign that your website is not secure. This may dissuade a customer from doing business with you.

7. Be accessible to your customers. 

Unlike in a brick-and-mortar store, people shopping online do not have access to a salesperson or an expert to address their queries. Nevertheless, it is your duty to assure them that you are there to help them out at every step of the way.

Apart from sending regular and accurate updates about the status of their order, you should also provide contact information for your customer care team that can promptly address their concerns.

Create a full-fledged “Contact Us” page on your website where you provide clear details and a variety of ways in which people can contact you, including email, phone number and/or a contact form. Make sure to include your social handles because a lot of people use social media channels to contact businesses or raise their concerns. If you have the manpower for it, a built-in live chat is the best and fastest way to address a customer’s query.

8. Encourage and publish reviews.

According to a BigCommerce study, 69% of online shoppers want more reviews from e-commerce websites, while 77% say that they read product reviews before making a purchase. If you have been receiving positive feedback on your products and your customer services, it will serve you well to highlight these on your homepage as well as on specific product pages.

Encourage people to write reviews for you by sending them follow-up emails after their purchases, thanking them for shopping with you and letting them know that you value their feedback.

Ready to launch your e-commerce website?

An e-commerce website needs to be the right blend of aesthetics, easy navigation, robust security systems and relevant and accurate information which can translate into a wholesome shopping experience. By ensuring that you incorporate the tips mentioned above into your website design, you increase your chances of converting visitors into revenue-generating customers.

You can launch your e-commerce website today using Domain.com’s AI-powered WebsiteBuilder.

Author Bio

Alisha is a Senior Content Marketing & Communication Specialist at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .STORE and .TECH. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

That number represents a 14.8 percent increase in e-commerce spending compared to the same period last year. Now, stop to think about how the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, has changed the way we interact in physical spaces. Do you really think e-commerce is going to go away or diminish anytime soon? 

With that in mind, we want to see you succeed in your e-commerce efforts, so we’ve written this article to detail five things you can do to improve your e-commerce website product pages and convert more customers.

If you’re just starting out on your e-commerce journey, you also might want to read this article about how to choose the perfect e-commerce domain name and learn about e-commerce website builders and hosting plans.

5 Tips to Improve Your E-Commerce Product Pages

 1. Know who your audience is and who’s buying your product.

Your product pages are designed to do one thing — that’s sell.

In order to optimize your product page for the most sales, you need to have a clear understanding of who your product is intended for. 

Take some time to create a picture of your ideal customer, or buyer persona. This step is a MUST, so if you haven’t done it yet, you need to. Understanding your ideal customer persona includes understanding their needs, their problems, and their wants. Those can help you understand what motivates them to buy your product, or not. And you can use these insights to fashion your products into the most desirable solutions for their needs, increasing the likelihood that they’ll buy from you. 

As you start mapping out your ideal buyer persona, give this some thought: What kind of people are they?

We don’t mean “good” or “bad,” “nice” or “mean,” but broadly speaking, who are they — men, women, both? Are they older or younger? What’s their education level? Do they have disposable income? All of these things play into people’s purchasing decisions and patterns, so spend time learning them. 

When you think about your ideal customer, keep in mind that they could be different from your product’s end user. For example, if you sell kids books or items for teenagers, they’re not the ones who ultimately click “Buy.” Instead, it’s their parents.

While your products have to appeal to the end user, it helps to know who’s clicking “Buy Now” so you can cater your product page and descriptions to entice them to complete the purchase.

2. Use photos, images, and video to your advantage.

It’s trite, but there’s truth to it: A picture speaks a thousand words.

Customers shopping in stores have the advantages of touch, sight, and sometimes taste, when it comes to inspecting products pre-purchase. All of these senses help inform them about the product and make a final buying decision.

You won’t get that advantage when selling online, so you have to do your best to portray your products as completely and as well as possible. That means taking studio-quality photos (there are plenty of DIY tricks out there so it doesn’t cost you a fortune), relevant images, and videos when appropriate.  

Show your products in use, like in the example from Magnolia Market above, so people really get a sense of what they can do. 

3. Finesse your product descriptions and CTAs.

As we mentioned earlier, everything on your product pages should be designed with one goal in mind — to sell your product. That includes any writing, or copy, on your pages.

Arguably, the most important copy on this page will be your CTA, or call-to-action. CTAs are things like buttons that prompt, “Buy Now” or “Add to Cart.”

Keep your CTAs clear and direct, not wordy and inconclusive. If you want someone to buy something, then your button should tell them as much. Never leave the burden of guessing what they’re supposed to do next to your customer.

As your CTA is vitally important to your product page, make sure it’s visible. Don’t clutter it with too much text, especially in the same color. If you do that, you’ll risk someone glazing right over it when they scan your page because it won’t stand out and command the attention that it rightfully should.

Here’s an example of a product listing from The Body Shop that illustrates what we mean.

When you look at the image, the first thing to catch your eye is their product — the images they use are bright and evoke the cooling, refreshing feeling their product is destined to give you.

But the next thing our eyes jump to is their CTA, “Add to bag.” It’s big, bold, and black, which contrasts the colors of the product images, and it commands attention, just as it should.

Beneath their CTA you’ll find their product description. Here’s what makes it a good one, and what you should remember when creating your own:

• They begin by speaking directly to the consumer, “Slather on a dollop…”
• They use their brand voice. Not formal or choppy, but casual and inviting.
• They highlight the value and benefits the product provides to the consumer, “Skin feels softer, smoother, and instantly cooler,” instead of listing off ingredients and their clinical uses, which no one would find inviting. Remember, features tell but benefits sell!

The bottom line is that you should be making sure you’re speaking to your customer — address them by using the word “you” and explain how your product benefits them without drowning them in information. Check out these words that can help you sell and consider including them in your product descriptions where appropriate.  

4. Avoid unnecessary distractions.

Ah, humans. We’re an incredibly adept species that’s come a long way over the course of history. And yet, over the years we seem to have lost some of our attention span.

Considering how easy we are to distract, it’s best to keep your product page as clean and simple as you can. Here’s what we suggest taking into account before designing your product pages.

• Keep important information front and center, not below the fold where someone needs to scroll down to view it.
• Avoid unnecessary links. Every link on your page that isn’t needed or required is just another opportunity for someone to click away before completing their purchase.
• Leave enough white space on the page so their eyes can focus on what’s most important.
  • Too much visual clutter both distracts and affects loading time on pages.
  • White space can be cleverly used in your copy by adjusting your margins or line height and letter spacing.

5. Build consumer confidence with reviews.

How often do you stop and read reviews before committing to a purchase?

If you’re like most of us, then customer reviews make up an integral part of your decision to purchase. It’s comforting to know what others think of something, and that they find it useful and valuable (or not), before pulling the plug and spending our hard-earned money.

Customer reviews, and any photos they supply, provide an intimate view into how the product functions. That review, the feedback the customer leaves, doesn’t just convince prospective customers that their money will be well spent; it can help you understand where to improve future iterations of your products and services.

Try soliciting reviews post-purchase. If your customer has opted in to receive your emails, then you can send them a request for a review. And if you’re feeling especially nice, you can incentivize them to leave a review with the promise of a discount on a future purchase — just don’t try to influence what they write.

The question we see playing in your minds is, “What happens if it’s a bad review?” And you know what? You’re right in asking it.

If you get a bad review, it’s no time to panic. Instead, it’s your time to shine. If prospective customers see you taking the time to address concerns and make things right with existing customers, then they’ll be more inclined to do business with you.

It’s time to create your product listing pages.

Taking what you’ve learned from this post, it’s time to create your product pages.

You can start an e-commerce website pretty easily nowadays. There are tools and website builders designed to make the process intuitive and hassle-free.

In fact, our WebsiteBuilder is AI-powered, so after you answer a few questions (like what kind of business you are) it will build a functioning website for you. Then all you’ll need to do is fill in the details and refine it — none of which requires you to be “techy” or have some advanced coding knowledge.

We wish you the best of luck as you set up your e-commerce website and optimize your pages. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments. 

What you may not realize is that you should put just as much effort and care into each decision you make when building your business’ website and digital presence.

As your business name and signage draw foot traffic to your shops, domain names attract visitors to your e-commerce website. And as the number of visitors to your site increases, so does your potential to make more sales.

The thing is, not every domain is a great one. So, how do you choose a domain name for your e-commerce business and site AND feel confident that it’s a good choice?

That’s what we’ll figure out today. By the time you’ve read this post you’ll know exactly how to land the perfect domain name — and avoid the duds.

Tips for choosing an e-commerce domain name.

Launching an online business is an exciting venture. But before you can build your website, add your wares, and start selling, you have to purchase a domain name.

Juliet may have said that, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but we’d have to disagree. There’s a lot to a name, and some resonate with people better than others. 

Here’s what you need to know about choosing a domain name to create a strong, branded e-commerce business.

Look for your exact match domain name.

If you already have a business name that people know and trust, it’s in your best interest to find the matching domain name. Your business identity should be consistent, both online and off, so you don’t want to use two different names if you can avoid it.

However, it isn’t always easy to find a domain name that exactly matches your business name, especially if you’re only searching for a .com domain name.

But don’t get disheartened! Just because your exact match domain name isn’t readily available, doesn’t mean all hope is lost. Here’s what you can do about it.

Expand your domain extension search horizons.

If you know anything about domains, you know .com has long been considered the king. Why is that?

The .com domain is one of the original six domain extensions, or TLDs, created in 1985 with the inception of the DNS, or Domain Name System. Much of .com’s notoriety has to do with the fact that it’s familiar to people. But familiarity isn’t what you’re after with a domain name — relevancy and memorability are.

For the most relevant, memorable domain name, you might need to think outside the .com box. Instead, consider using a newer domain extension, or nTLD, to create the perfect domain name.

By choosing an nTLD for your domain name, you can get a more descriptive domain name that clearly imparts the purpose of your site and business. Here’s an example of what that looks like in practice.

Gary owns a coffee shop in a small town outside of Buffalo, New York. He loves seeing his customers every morning and afternoon, and business is booming. With such great results at his shop, he decides to take his products online and start selling coffee by the pound.

He searches for his desired domain name: GarysCoffee.com, but alas, it’s taken! Instead of getting discouraged he sees another domain extension, .online, and thinks, “Could this be it?”

He searches and it’s available! What a perfect domain name for him… it has his business name front and center (GarysCoffee) and his selected domain extension (.online) is descriptive of his growing, expanding business and intent to sell online. 

Other great domain extensions to consider for e-commerce businesses are:

• .store
• .biz
• .shop
• .boutique
• and thousands more can be found here.

Need some more convincing?

Top name brands and businesses are getting creative (and memorable) with domain names like kindle.store and alexa.online.

Consider purchasing a premium domain name.

Perhaps when you first searched for a domain name you saw the one you wanted in the results, but it was more expensive than the others. Why is that?

Chances are it was a premium domain name. Premium domain names have been registered in the past. They’re keyword-rich, which can help give your site’s SEO a boost, and they’re often shorter and more memorable. All of these characteristics serve to make them brandable and increase their value.

And if the premium domain was previously used for a website, it may even come with established website traffic which could help any new website owner!

Premium domain names are a great investment in your e-commerce business, so don’t overlook them.

Avoid hyphens and extra characters in your domain name.

It happens all the time…

Someone can’t find their desired domain name, so they decide to add a few hyphens and a couple of numbers, and perfect! Right?

Not even a little bit.

Let’s revisit Gary’s Coffee Shop and see what would’ve happened had he done this when choosing a domain name. If instead of selecting “garyscoffee.online” or “garyscoffee.shop” he’d selected “garys-coffee-736.com,” he would’ve made a big mistake.

Take your customers and site visitors into account when choosing your domain name. The more random characters and numbers you have in your domain, the less likely it is for them to remember it. And that means they could misspell your domain name and end up on a competitor’s site, or assume your website is no longer functioning and you’ve gone out business.

Unless your business name is hyphenated and has numbers, and your customers are very familiar with it, don’t include them in your domain name.

Stop with the unique spelling.

Everyone is unique and so are businesses.

In fact, you must have a differentiator that sets you apart from your competitors. Just don’t make that differentiator a uniquely spelled domain name. You might think that having an interestingly spelled domain means it’s memorable, but that’s usually not the case. Hyphens between every other letter and random numbers at the end of your domain name are difficult to remember.

If you want your domain name to be memorable, make sure it passes the “Radio Test.”

Can you pass the Radio Test?

A lot of domainers will refer to the Radio Test as a way to test the quality of your domain name.

For your domain name to pass the test, pretend that you’re running a commercial or advertisement on a local radio station. At the end of your promo the host reads your domain name aloud and directs listeners to visit your website.

If someone can easily spell your domain name based on how they heard it pronounced, then congratulations! Your domain name has passed the radio test. If not, you’ve failed and should go back to the drawing board. You can try the radio test at home with friends and family. 

There are many letters and combinations of letters that sound alike, like “ph” and “f” — so make sure you’re spelling your domain name in the most common fashion instead of using the most interesting spelling.  

Your domain name should be strong and branded.

Your domain name will oftentimes be the first point of contact someone has with your business and brand.

By making your domain name meaningful and leveraging the 1000s of new top-level domain extensions that exist, you can create a relevant, contextual domain name that drives more visitors and business to your site.

Domain names aid in brand identity and recall, so remember to make yours pronounceable and easy to spell.

Ready to find the perfect domain name and launch your e-commerce business? Get started with Domain.com.