As you learn how to start an online store, there may seem to be lot of moving parts that you have to keep together. The truth is, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. The process can be simplified, but you have to understand that it is work. Owning a store online or otherwise will take effort and strategy to make sure that everything stays on track.
The benefits that are available when you crack the code of having a successful online store are plentiful. The dream of passive income through your store is not pie in the sky. Once you get the machine working, you can have minimal upkeep on the site.
Table of Contents
1. Engaging Web Design
If you were to come to your website for the first time. What would your impression be? Do you think you would want to stay or would you click away quickly? You can’t look at your site with the loving eyes of a parent. You have to look at your site with the critical eyes of a potential consumer.
Your web design not only need to look great, but it needs to be set up in a way that it is going to encourage your users to go to the pages that you want them to go to. If your visitors aren’t visiting the “money pages” then you can’t make any money on your site.
An engaging design doesn’t mean that you have to give people a lot of options. On the contrary since sometimes it actually means giving people less options but options they actually want. Instead of littering your site with banner and many confusing options, you should put the most important elements on your page and let all of the other less important things fall away.
Everything from your navigation and images should be selling your visitor as soon as they come on the site. Remember ABC? Always be closing.
2. About Us Page That Makes People Want to Buy
When people go to your “About Us” page, are they going to say, “Wow” or “Whoa”? You want to wow people when they visit your about us page and while talking about yourself or your company might not be your strong suite, you need to have great copy here.
You can either write your own about us page or you can hire a copywriter to professionally craft your about us page in a way that will compel people to want to do business with you. It is important that there is a sense of trust for you and your site when people put their credit cards into the form. If anything seems even a little off, you might find them running for the hills.
While your about page may not make or break the sale, it definitely plays a part when people go to visit it.
3. Brand Partnerships
If you can find ways to partner with other brands in your space that may be more established than you, this can help you borrow their authority and trust. Even if your partners and people that you are working with aren’t big names, having other people that you work with will show that you are a reputable company and make people feel more comfortable about working with you.
You can list your brand partnerships on your about us page or partners page but you should definitely list partners on your homepage since many people will be visiting this area and you don’t want them to miss seeing this important trust piece.
4. Great Online Support
When people visit your site and have questions, they might not want to go to the FAQ section. A lot of times, people just want their answer and they want it right away. Having a way for them to get their answer quickly will set you apart from other stores on the market. You can find AI chat bots that are great for helping with common questions and people oftentimes have no idea they are speaking to a bot.
Having multiple ways that people can get in touch with you for support is important. You might have live chat, email support or phone support. Many ecommerce sites do not have phone numbers listed so if you offer phone support, this could be a big deal.
Always make sure anyone that is answering questions is knowledgeable or otherwise your support might not do anything than frustrate your potential clients.
5. Popular Payment Options
While there are many different ways to process payments, you want to offer the most popular payment options so that you will be able to service the most amount of people. If you only offer payment with bitcoin, not everyone is going to understand that so you have to be sensitive to people’s needs if you want to serve the masses.
Conclusion
When you are creating your online store, it is important that you pay attention to detail. People have more and more options for where they shop every day so providing a good experience for them is important. This includes all of the points that we spoke about above. Whether you are building an online store on eBay, Amazon or through on a platform that allows you to operate without high fees, keeping the user in mind at all times is a must for long term success with your online store.
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