8 Dos and Don'ts of Launching E-commerce Business

As technologies develop, business models change. Today, for many of us, it’s much easier to start their own businesses than it was before; however, in some ways, it can be much harder too.

These days, people are used to ordering products and services online, so a decision to start an E-commerce business seems pretty rational. However, it’s important not to hurry here if you want to succeed. You have to know how to do it in order to make it right – and I’ll try to help you with that, describing the most important DOs and DON’Ts of launching any E-commerce business.

Important Dos and Don’ts of Launching E-commerce Business

#1. Do Invest Into Your Website’s Appearance :

A store owner invests into store’s look; a website owner has to do the same with their website. You might think that things like website design and the quality of content published there are not as important as the quality of the products. However, if you think this way, you are definitely not right: your website’s appearance is what makes the first impression. If your website looks cheap or the texts look too SEO-oriented and are literally packed with keywords, this could scare your visitors away.

On the contrary, when a website design looks serious, this can benefit you in many different ways. Such website will not only appear more attractive to customers but will also seem serious enough to set a bit higher prices.

#2. Don’t Forget About SEO :

Even if your products are original and their quality is great, this still isn’t enough if your clients don’t know how to find you. That’s why you shouldn’t forget about SEO. Make sure that you’re investing enough money into it and keep looking for ways to build more traffic to your website.

#3. Do Hire People :

Running a business on your own is one thing, but launching an E-commerce one is another. Even if you could handle a business on your own before, this doesn’t mean that you will be able to do so once your business moves online. There’s plenty of people required to run a website smoothly: SEO specialists, sales managers, content creators, etc.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you have to hire all of them right away (especially if your business is still small). Hire freelancers to do one-time jobs and hire permanent employees once you can afford it.

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#4. Don’t Hesitate to Invest Into Testing

If your goal is to launch something completely new, you have to invest into testing before actually launching your business. This way, you’ll be able to save money in case something goes wrong and guarantee that your products or services are really good if everything turns out to be right.

Moreover, not all testing actually requires money investments: you can try conducting surveys or selling test samples instead, and see how everything turns out.

#5. Do Listen to Your Customers :

Listening to customers is probably one of the best things a business owner can do if they want to make their business truly successful.

Actually, an E-commerce business is a mutual profit: You offer people products and services, while they give you money and feedback which is even more important as it allows you to develop professionally and improve your service.

That’s why customer’s opinions matter and that’s why you should listen to them. Encourage them to give you detailed feedback and try to fix all mistakes as soon as possible.

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#6. Don’t Forget to Manage Your Time :

As I mentioned above, an E-commerce business is not a job that can be handled by one person. Despite the fact that you want to succeed, exhausting yourself to the point you cannot do this anymore is definitely a bad thing, so you should avoid it as much as possible.

Remember that people can remain productive only for a limited amount of hours per day. You have to find your limit and stick to in in order to be able to stay effective and to keep your company running.

Moreover, if you invest too much time and it still isn’t enough, this means that your company isn’t as successful as you would like it to be. Maybe it’s time to reconsider something about your business instead of working yourself to death.

#7. Do Measure Your Success Accurately :

Every business owner has to measure the success of their company in order to keep it running smoothly. This is especially important when you are launching an E-commerce business: even if you were a business owner before, things work differently online, so you have to be sure that it is worth trying and investing.

There are two ways to measure your success as accurately as possible. First, you need to understand whether your investments pay off (and I’m not talking only about money here). You invest your time, money, and energy, and if the business still doesn’t bring you enough profit, maybe you should change something or close it.

Second, you should remember that business grows and develops with time; moreover, almost every business has its high and low seasons. That’s why you shouldn’t compare your summer traffic to the winter traffic: compare last July with this July instead, and see whether something has changed. This will be much more accurate.

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#8. Don’t Give Up :

As mentioned above, an E-commerce business is different from the ordinary one: it uses different tools and requires different efforts. That’s why it is so important to not give up quickly, even if it seems that it doesn’t work.

Give yourself and your business sometimes even if quitting it right now seems tempting to you. After all, success doesn’t come overnight.

As you see, launching an E-commerce business is a tricky thing to do: you have to pay attention to things that weren’t important before (like design, SEO, etc.) and work hard to make everything run smoothly. However, it is definitely worth the effort, so if you think you have it in you – you should try it! I wish you good luck with that!

About the Author:

Richard Nolan is a writer and a private tutor, sharing his experience in spheres of writing, blogging and psychology. Richard writes for numerous blogs and gives useful tips for bloggers and students. Currently, Richard works as a general blog editor for ProWritersCenter.

8 Dos and Don’ts of Launching E-commerce Business