Experts say that the best way to grow is to learn from your own mistakes. But what if there was a way to learn from those ecommerce blunders before they actually happen to you?
What are the biggest mistakes people make when building their first ecommerce website? Take a look at the ones below before you investing your precious time and hard-earned money:
1. Entering a Crowded, Competitive Niche
Picking out a good niche is one of the most important things to do before creating your ecommerce site. You should understand that a niche that’s too broad will have fierce competition (usually from established, big-name brands), and a niche that’s too specialized won’t have a lot of customers.
Furthermore, a niche that has become too crowded will result in the following:
– You’ll have to make the extra effort to stand out among the crowd.
– You won’t be able to go top rank in the search engines for the best keywords.
– You’ll experience price erosion due to the fact that your competitors will be undercutting to get more customers.
One good way to go about picking a niche is thinking which products or goods aren’t available in brick and mortar shops. Then, do some research and see if that niche has a lot of competition on the web. Finally, that niche has to have an adequate number of potential buyers for you to make a decent profit.
2. Lack of a Business Plan
You won’t need to spend a week compiling a comprehensive, 60-page business plan that discusses every possible course of action and contingencies. Keeping it simple, clear and straightforward should do the trick.
Here are some of the most important questions you’ll need to address when you come up with a business plan for your first ecommerce website:
a. What type of service or product will you sell?
b. What exactly is your niche? Who will be your audience and target customers?
c. What is your customer’s problem and how can you offer a solution that will address their needs?
d. Who will be your competition? Is there a sub-niche that you can fill in?
e. Is there a weakness in the competition? How can you position your ecommerce shop to take advantage of this?
3. Lack of a Good Marketing Strategy
Too many first-time online entrepreneurs think that visitors will come overnight as soon as their ecommerce website is launched. Remember that creating an optimized ecommerce shop is just the beginning. You will need to take care of advertising and getting your brand out to the world, which means that you should have a good traffic strategy.
How does one generate traffic online and convert visitors into potential customers? SEO optimization is one. Knowing how useful PPC can be is another. Don’t overlook the potential of getting into popular social media platforms for promoting your ecommerce store. Last but not the least, you’ll need an ecommerce tracking system, such as Google Analytics.
4. There’s No Logo
A brand logo is much more important than you’d think. When visiting a website, the logo is usually the very first thing people will see, and this gives them the first impressions of what they can expect from your online store. Some ecommerce platforms will put up your brand name in plain text if you create a site without a logo, but that’s a mistake that you shouldn’t make.
Working with a designer to create an eye-catching logo won’t require you to spend thousands of dollars. The good thing about technology nowadays is that you can come up with an attractive logo either by making one and digitizing it, or by having it done online for a few dollars. There’s really no excuse in launching an ecommerce website without a brand name logo.
5. Poor Picture Presentation
Product pictures are the lifeblood of your ecommerce website. An online shop depends entirely on showcasing the products and services in the best possible light. This means that all product pictures should be sized just right and are of the highest possible quality. The product description should be complete and helpful for potential buyers. It should show the dimension, color, features and other listings that make for a better informed decision.
Keep in mind that an attractive layout and an informative product text makes for a better shopping experience. This translates to having a higher chance that the visitor will buy your product.
6. Not Optimized For Conversions
The ecommerce website should have the necessary elements to convert a high percentage of visitors to buyers. Here are some of the things that you need to look at:
Call To Action. All your category and product pages should have a clear CTA. Tell them what to do next and make it easy for them to buy what you’re offering.
Professional-Looking. High quality product photos. A highly aesthetic website. Your ecommerce store should look like it was made by professionals in order for people to consider purchasing your merchandise.
Responsiveness. No one likes a sluggish website. Loading time should be 2 to 3 seconds, or else you’ll risk losing a potential customer. A quick website provides good user experience, which also increases trust among your audience.
Just having an ecommerce website with a functional shopping cart is not enough. You’ll need to carefully consider your website’s design before launching it.
7. Not Enough Balance
Balance is offering an adequate amount of information while making it clear that your website is an ecommerce platform first. Having an appealing design is top on the list, but you should also remember that your site must be able to convey the right marketing message to first-time visitors.
You wouldn’t want to distract your customers from the real reason you created an online store. Having a good balance of attractive content, marketing strategy and excellent user experience all adds up to the conversion process. On top of that, your visitors must have a clear picture of what your brand represents and what your overall message is for them.
Knowing these mistakes will help you prevent painful setbacks and stumbling about as you create your first ecommerce website. Make the necessary steps and spend some time coming up with a good business strategy, and soon you’ll be making profits and expanding your brand.