What Are the Benefits of Selling Online?

Wherever you are in your business journey, deciding whether to start selling your products and services online is a big step. You may be a long-established brand that has not yet branched out into ecommerce, or you may be a new startup looking to get the most exposure out of a limited budget. There is a lot to consider, and you might not always know the best course of action if a website is something entirely new for you.

Wherever you are in your business journey, deciding whether to start selling your products and services online is a big step. You may be a long-established brand that has not yet branched out into ecommerce, or you may be a new startup looking to get the most exposure out of a limited budget. There is a lot to consider, and you might not always know the best course of action if a website is something entirely new for you.

First, you need to consider your reasons for selling online. These reasons could include:

Your reasons are likely to be a combination of a handful of the above points, but there are always vital things to consider when starting your online journey.

First, you need to make sure that you have a clear idea of what you want your website to do. The best way to do this is to look into a mix of different websites. Please look at websites that provide the same products and services as you and note how their sites work, what seems to work well and what doesn't. Rather than looking at this as a competitor, try to put yourself in the shoes of a customer. 

Creating customer profiles is also a great way to consider how people are likely to engage with your new online presence. Keeping customers in mind throughout the whole process will make a difference in whether your site is one that people will want to return to. 

After gathering information on your competitors' offerings, find websites that you personally enjoy browsing and shopping on. Think about why you enjoy using those sites and write down the main points such as "great imagery" or "easy to use". It may be the case that, for example, your competitors don't have fantastic imagery; this doesn't mean that you don't have to try so hard, but it means that you will have a clear advantage if you spend more time and effort on that particular element. Competitor research is to see how you can do better rather than just keeping your website aligned with what other people are doing.

Once you have done the above research, you will find that you have started to pull together a brief that you can then evolve further to send out to website developers. Reach out to as many professionals as possible to get the most feedback and information. It is always best to go with a team that has trusted credentials, such as a certified Magento agency. Reaching out to teams with certifications means that you are guaranteed quality and professionalism.

Once you have found the best way for your business to build your website, you can then think about your overall marketing strategy. One of the main benefits of selling online is that you can do many things to get your brand recognised and seen by the right people. You will need to invest some time and money into your online marketing, and after your website, your next port of call can be social media. Set up your social media channels and start to find ways to engage with your audience; think about frequent content that is not just always with conversion in mind but with exciting topics and articles your customers would like to read. Competitions are a great way to gather data (make sure you adhere to GDPR guidelines to collect this). Then you can start building a database where you can send promotions, newsletters, and targeted information. If you gather and use your customer data correctly, this will be a continuous loop of engagement that can create valuable long-term returning customers. After you've got your social media running with some momentum, you can start doing paid advertising through there and Pay Per Click on search engines in a way that is most likely to reach your target audience. You may not get conversions from this straight away, and you will likely need to edit and adjust your spending and message accordingly until you find something that works. Alternatively, you can always hire an agency to look into this and advise the best approach for digital marketing.

Resources:

Adobe Commerce Development - Ameba Ownd
Magento Agency - Buy Me a Coffee
Magento 2 Agency - Glitch
Magento Partners - JobHop
Magento Partner Agency - TechPlanet
Magento Development - Tribe
Magento Web Development - University of South Florida
Magento Support - Zoho Writer