There has never been an easier time to start a business than right now. The internet has allowed people from across the globe to set up e-commerce stores that not only provide extra income, but can become an entire career. Here are the the most important things to know when starting your own online business.
Table of Contents
Find Your Niche
Firstly, you need to decide what you will sell or offer. Will you provide online coaching, sell packaging supplies, or anything else? Your niche doesn’t have to be something you are overly familiar with either, which is important to keep in mind.
Also, try to be as specific as possible. There are countless examples of online businesses that are highly successful and have cornered the market in super-specific niches such as waterproof jackets, climbing shoes, etc.
Niche Validation
Next, you need to validate your niche by doing online research. Tools like Google Analytics allow you to research your specific niche and find how many people have searched for it, as well as sales, average price, customer location, etc.
This is important as you want to start a business that fills a need. For example, starting an online business that sells snow boots in a country that has never had snow isn’t the best idea.
Type of Business
You will also need to decide what type of business you will have. Will you sell products, offer consistent service subscriptions, or sell your time and expertise? This will determine how you market your business, your target audience, etc.
Research Your Target Audience
Speaking of your target audience, it is important to research their wants and needs. Your niche will allow you to target a specific group, but then you still need to dig into what they want from a business like yours.
This will take a lot of time, research, and effort, but it is necessary to figure it out as, once again, there is no use in creating a product or service that no one wants to buy.
Choose a Platform
The next thing you need to do is to choose a platform. If you are selling products, a site like Shopify or Etsy are great options as they are easy to set-up and use, they do a lot of the groundwork for you, and they are designed with both first-time store owners and experts alike.
If you are selling a service, coaching, or online courses, you may want to go the route of starting a website. You can also combine this with YouTube or social media videos that direct people to your site.
Stock
If you are choosing to sell a product, you will need to procure stock. There are two main ways this can be done: you can either buy in bulk, store the stock, and ship it yourself, or you can dropship.
Holding Stock
Holding stock is self-explanatory; you either buy or make a load of stock to ship to customers when needed. This allows for superior quality control and will enable you to be more involved in the process from start to finish.
On the downside, however, this is a very large investment right out the gate, with no guarantee of success. Businesses that choose this route typically start very small with their orders and often prefer to sell out and restock instead of purchasing too much stock.
Dropshipping
On the other hand, dropshipping involves being the middleman between the customer and the manufacturer. A customer orders from your site, you send the order to the manufacturer, and they then ship the product.
This method means you never have to buy or hold stock and is substantially more affordable. However, you have little to no oversight on the quality, and the speed of the shipping, and if the manufacturer goes out of business, you could possibly go out of business as well.
Store Identity
You store identity refers to your logo, how your store itself looks, packaging design, etc. Your store identity should reflect what you stand for, the message you are trying to convey, and be memorable for new and returning customers.
If you are selling baby products, for example, a website with skull and fire graphics is clearly not the message you are trying to send. A simple rule of thumb is to think about what would appeal to you more than what you would like, as there is a subtle difference that will change your business’s image completely.
Marketing
Finally, you need to research and set up your marketing channels. In this day and age, social media is the best, and cheapest, tool for marketing. However, your method/s for marketing will differ depending on who you are trying to reach.
For example, many older people won’t have social media accounts, but they will have an email address, therefore, newsletters are a great choice. On the other hand, the younger generations all use a form of social media, and therefore Instagram or Facebook ads are a better option. In simple terms, choose marketing channels that will ensure you reach the largest portion of your target audience.
