Hi everybody!
My name is Matt and I’m the Social Media Manager here at Volusion.
Welcome to Two Minute Tuesdays, where we give you two minutes of ecommerce advice to bolster
your online success.
Throughout the course of the Two Minute Tuesdays we’ve recorded, we’ve talked about a lot
of things that you should be doing for your ecommerce site, but we’ve yet to truly focus
on activities that you shouldn’t do.
With that in mind, today I present you five major don’t of building your very own online
store.
First off, don’t start anything without a plan.
Whenever you’re building your ecommerce site, you need to make sure that you have
milestones in place, that your objectives are established and that you’ve hammered
down metrics to see measure how you’re doing.
In other words, go in with a solid business plan – it’ll keep you on track for the
long haul.
Next, don’t forget about design and branding every step of the way.
You need to know what your site is going to look like, or at least have a general idea,
and you should know what your brand will represent.
This vision will help with decisions later on, such as button colors, what your product
photos should look like and what the tone of your copy will be, so make sure you’re
considering these factors from the start.
Thirdly, don’t skimp on the details.
While you might think some decisions are irrelevant at first, these details can cost you down
the road.
Say, for example, that you’re looking at merchant providers and one option charges
just .01% higher of a rate.
While this doesn’t some like much, when you’re making millions on your ecommerce
site, that can cost you a lot of money in the future.
Fourthly, don’t expect sales overnight.
Yes, launching your website is a very exciting process, and you’re going to feel good about
yourself once you finish.
However, when you don’t see sales coming in immediately, you can set yourself up for
disappointment.
You have to remember that there are millions of websites out there, many of which are selling
the same products as you, so you need to know that it’s important to invest time and money
into marketing.
These investments will help make sure that traffic is coming and sales are going through.
Don’t expect sales overnight and you’ll be in good shape.
Last, but not least, don’t try to do everything at once.
There are a lot of decisions to make and a lot of actions to take when opening your online
store, so set small milestones like “Today, I’m going to put together five product pages,”
or “Today, I’m going to launch my home page.”
Make sure that you celebrate those victories and you keep yourself on a manageable timetable
to keep your sanity and your online business moving.
Hopefully these five don’ts will keep you on the right track to getting your ecommerce
site up and running successfully.
If you have any questions we’re always happy to help.
Just leave me a question in the comments box below and I’ll be happy to get back with
you.
From me to you, happy selling!