Does Your Ecommerce Business Have These Five Things in Place
Running an ecommerce business is pretty easy. Running a successful ecommerce business is a whole other kettle of fish. Practically anyone can set up an online shop and hope to make some money. The harsh truth is; many of them fail. If you want to ensure that your ecommerce business is a success, then you need certain things in place. Grab a pen and tick these off as you go along. If you’re missing any, it’s back to the drawing board.
1. A Clean Design
If you want to keep customers interested, you need a clean looking website layout. It needs to be easy for people to use. And to find the things they’re looking for! Without this, it’s likely customers will click away very quickly. Take a look at your website, from the perspective of a potential client. Is it easy to find what you’re looking for? Is the site clean and appealing? You can also pay people to test your ecommerce website out. They’ll then be able to send you a review of what they think needs changing. This is a good idea if you’ve got a high bounce rate.
2. Search Engine Optimisation
How are people finding your e-commerce store? If you do not see a lot of traffic then maybe you need to work on your search engine optimisation. By having the right SEO in place, you’re far more likely to climb the search engine rankings. Which means customers are far more likely to find you. This is a must if you’re going to be relying on Google for your custom. Make sure you’ve read up on all the guides out there, which focus on SEO.
3. Social Media
While you may be relying heavily on search engine traffic, it shouldn’t be your sole marketing technique. Social media is now one of the most popular ways to advertise your business to members of the general public. The first thing to work out is where your target market spends most of their time. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn? You can then set up profiles and advertise to them directly. Invest a little in paid marketing options, to increase the number of potential customers seeing your website.
4. IT Support
What would you do if your ecommerce website suddenly went down? Unless you’re an IT expert yourself, this would probably be a nightmare to fix. You could go search out a freelancer and hope that they can fix it. However, this can take time. It’s a good idea to have some kind of Magento support ready. In case the worst happens. You can also find companies who specialise in other ecommerce platforms if you don’t explicitly use Magento. Either way, this is a must-have.
5. Follow-Up Marketing
Finally, one of the biggest things that business owners forget. Following up with their existing customers. Do you ever contact your clients once they’ve purchased from you? Do you send out discount vouchers or newsletters? If not, you’re missing a trick. Make sure you put several follow-up marketing techniques in place. This will help improve word of mouth recommendations and repeat custom.
So, does your ecommerce business have these five things in place? If not, it could be why you’re not yet the next Richard Branson. Tick all these boxes and watch those profits rise.
