As 2020 gets closer to winding down, it’s only natural to start thinking about the new year, your goals, your plans, and what sort of changes you want to make. For many people, it can spark the start of a new adventure in terms of their career, as a career change is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions that people make. So what happens if you’ve been thinking it’s time to make a career change, and you want more control over your future? Perhaps the life of an entrepreneur is what appeals to you most, as you will be the one in control of your destiny.
One of the hottest trends for new businesses in today’s high-tech lifestyle is to create an e-commerce site. Rather than physical storefronts business owners have come to realise the many benefits in taking this route. But is it right for you? Let’s take a closer look at some of the key elements in creating a successful e-commerce site.
What Will You Sell?
The first thing to think about is what kind of product(s) or service(s) you will sell on your website? What is the main product offering? Now you need to take it one step further, what sets your offering apart from all the others out there in the market? There’s bound to be competition, so what’s your unique hook? Why should customers turn to you?
This is the sort of question that needs plenty of thought, research, and planning – in other words, plenty of market research. You need to learn everything and anything about your target demographic to ensure your product or service is in demand and has a future.
The Website Can Only Go Live When It’s Perfect
Rushing to get your website live is never a good idea when you enter into e-commerce. Sure you want to have things up and running so you can start making sales, but you get one chance to make that all-important first impression. The site needs to perform perfectly from the get-go so that you not only keep their interest and close the sale, but hopefully, create loyal customers that keep coming back to your site.
This means you need to provide an experience that is fast, pages that load smoothly, plenty of high-quality images and videos of products you will be selling, an engaging layout, a site that is easy to navigate and find specific items and make sure there is a way for customers to contact you with questions or concerns.
The Checkout Experience Must be Safe and Secure
With so much emphasis on online security nowadays, you absolutely cannot cut corners where the online checkout experience is concerned. It must be safe and secure at all times so that customers feel confident in making a purchase. This is where you want to invest time and money so that you can ensure all the essentials are looked after.
The Search Page Ranking Means Everything
Even with all your best work and intentions to create an intuitive, user-friendly website that provides a product or service that you stand behind, if you’re not rating high on the search rankings, then your page just isn’t going to get the traffic you need. Search rankings are truly everything, and the higher you can get on the list, the better it will be for the company. The goal needs to be to appear on that all-important first page of results, as it’s rare that anyone looks past that page.
According to Perth Web Design, an SEO Perth agency, a great way to ensure you’re where you want to be is to perform a search engine optimisation audit. In fact, the company recommends performing an SEO audit on a regular basis to ensure you’re not only on track right now, but stay on track to meet all your goals and targets.
As PWD explains, no two businesses are the same and that means no two SEO strategies should be the same either. Things such as web design, branding, domain names, the SEO tools used, and so forth all need to be a direct response to your particular company and its objectives.
How Will You Market Your Website?
Then there is the marketing aspect of your e-commerce website. How do you plan to get the word out? While you can certainly create a digital and traditional marketing campaign, your focus will probably be on a digital marketing campaign. Let’s face it, for a brand new business starting out, it’s the most cost-effective approach. Not only that but these digital campaigns can be highly effective.
It Could be an Exciting Move to Make
So as 2021 approaches and you give real thought to what moves you plan on making in terms of furthering your career, starting an e-commerce website could be your solution.
