It took a little to convince people to buy from Internet, but now everyone is shopping online and the e-commerce has got the attention it deserve. Physical stores still account for most of the market, but online sales are on the edge. If you have a shop, you can’t ignore it. Why limit yourself to your neighborhood when you can reach clients all around the globe without even having to go to the post office? If you add the fact that setting up an e-commerce is pretty cheap, you can easily understand why lot of people are selling also online. Unfortunately, in most cases with modest results.
The most common mistake when opening an e-commerce is trying to do it alone or with support from amateurs. The company website was created by them, so why shouldn’t they take care of the online shop? From the technical point of view it’s relatively simple to get things done: you need some computer expertise, a few spare hours and a few dozen bucks. In some cases, probably your technical skills are enough. You can’t say the same things for your commercial skills. While it’s easy to set up a good looking online shop, let customers know it exists is another thing.
If your skill are free, not considering the time invested, for advertising you need to spend real money. Advertising online is much cheaper than TV, but you need to invest a little and do it correctly, trying to maximize your budget. Be careful if you don’t have any experience: it’s easy to spend all your budget without reaching an acceptable ROI. Which are the most common mistakes? Amongst them, the most frequent is to start selling before implementing a branding strategy. You can have the best product, but if people don’t know – and trust you – nobody will buy. In a few word, the first step of your strategy should be to raise your brand awareness.
If you sell services instead of goods, it’s better to avoid driving your potential customers directly to your website. To maximize profit you should create a landing page for any service you offer. Why, if you have a website? Because it will include too many informations that will confuse potential clients. A landing page just answer to one basic need: it’s easier to catch attention and improve the chances to transform a click into a lead and, al last, into a paying customer.
