How to create an online store
How to create an online store: quickly and without extra costs
If you want to create an online store or are just thinking about such an idea, you must be prepared for a certain investment of time and money. Therefore, before you take action, try to answer some questions:
- Can I finance my project? (later we will look at the costs that await you when creating an online store).
- Will I be able to provide up-to-date product availability and price information?
- Will I be able to arrange different payment methods for the goods, as well as convenient delivery?
- Will I be able to create an advertising campaign so that as many people as possible know about my store? Customers of an online store need to be attracted in the same way as in a regular store.
Only if you have answered yes to all questions are you really ready to create your Internet business and be able to make it interesting for potential customers. If you have doubts about this, you need to find out what steps you will have to go through in order to create an online store.
The site of an online store should have a user-friendly interface. It must also be functional. To create a website, you need to spend enough time and money, and in no case should you save on this. If you decide to save money when creating a website, do everything faster and cheaper, be prepared for the fact that your project will not be a success. Potential buyers who visit your site and do not see a sufficient range of products there, their characteristics, cost, will not buy anything in such a store. This can lead you to frustration in internet business. Just like in a regular store, your store should have a varied range of products. The buyer must receive full information about the product he likes. only in this case, potential buyers can become real.
Why do people use online shopping services? First, buyers are attracted by the cost of products compared to conventional stores. Secondly, shopping can be done without leaving home, which saves a lot of time. Therefore, for the convenience of shopping in your online store, it is necessary to provide the possibility of a variety of payment methods and delivery of goods. order tracking functionality is required. In addition, customer feedback is essential. If a potential buyer does not answer the questions of interest in time, he may leave your store without buying anything. The buyer should receive notifications about the stage of finding his order, that the money for the products was received, when the products were sent, etc. After completing the order, find out if the customer liked the service and ask them to write a review. Usually, when a person chooses an online store in which to make a purchase, he looks at the reviews of other buyers.
It is necessary that the assortment of products on the site is true. For example, a person decided to purchase some product in your store, got acquainted with the terms of payment and delivery, all the conditions suit him, so he orders the product. After that, a few days later, the manager informs him that the products are not in stock and will not be. Quite an unpleasant situation. Therefore, it is so necessary to monitor the availability of products and make the necessary changes on the site in time. You can perform these actions yourself or with the help of accounting programs, for example, 1C.
Despite all the advantages of your store, it needs to be promoted through advertising. There are many advertising techniques with which you can effectively attract customers. Which one to choose is up to you. The main rule is that you can not save on advertising. There is a certain advertising efficiency, and if you save money and do not reach this value, you can lose a lot.
So before you create an online store, you need to think through all the steps to the smallest detail. Think about whether you can finance this project in sufficient quantities and create comfortable conditions for your customers. In no case should you create an online store "at random". Such a project is doomed to failure, so do not waste your energy if you are not ready to give 100%.
6 elements of a selling online store
An online store is a site with selling abilities. To sell goods, a special scheme of interaction with the resource must be created. Selling abilities are provided through the use of individual elements. Together, they represent the basis of a commercial site, without which it is difficult to attract buyers.
Elements of a selling online store
Consumers choose a store not only for the cost of goods. Factors such as design and usability, choice of delivery and payment methods, ease of filling out forms, etc. are important.
Consider the most important elements that should be on a commercial site.
1. Quality design.
The design of an online store should be modern, beautiful and unobtrusive. Buyers pay attention to the quality of design. So that a person does not leave the site in the first seconds of his stay, the site should look decent. Use more calm tones to create a pleasant visual atmosphere on the site.
2. The use of the goods.
The assortment of an online store must meet the expectations of visitors. If a person comes to your site through an ad promoting sports goods, then the store should have a sufficient number of products in this category. When a buyer enters a catalog with one or two positions, he quickly loses interest in the online store.
3. Informative content of the site.
The online store should contain information about the seller, types of activities. Also a mandatory selling element is the "Contacts" page. It helps to build trust in the store and provides the information necessary to interact with the online store employees or the manager. Working hours, phone numbers, addresses - all this should be indicated on the site.
4. Service.
The level of service is the most important selling element. Delivery of products to buyers must be carried out in compliance with the specified deadlines. It is necessary to create a high-quality logistics system so that customers do not have problems receiving goods.
5. Proper organization of the catalog.
Items in the store should be categorized. For convenient use of the site, an internal search should be organized. The ability to quickly find products by name, manufacturer or price increases the selling power of an online store. Make sure all product pages are accessible to visitors. Remove all broken links and non-existent pages from the site.
6. Informative description of goods.
For the products presented in the store, you need to create unique and useful descriptions. Be sure to add good photos. It is also desirable to use video clips and presentations. The more visual your product, the better the selling ability of the site. Make sure that each product has a description. If it is not possible to post the original photo, use pictures or scanned images of the packaging.
These are the basic elements that provide the foundation for a highly converting online store. Without them, your site will not be able to work 100%, so check the availability of these elements and their quality.
5 tips for promoting your content on social media
Every blogger would like his posts to be actively shared on social networks. However, not everyone succeeds. Only some texts are so interesting to users that they like and repost them. How to change it?
1. It is necessary to cover really relevant events and processes. To do this, a blogger needs to constantly research their topics in order to stay in trend. This is the only way to create interesting content. Why describe what no one needs, and what is long out of date? This is the road to nowhere.
It is important to find professionals in your niche and analyze their work. What do they write about? How is information provided? What methods are used? If you understand all this, then after some time you yourself can become a leader in the chosen topic.
Just do not stupidly copy other people's posts and the style of their writing. It is unlikely that your readers will like it. It is important to create an original product that could interest users. Only then will they share it.
2. You need to create articles that can cause controversy and discussion among readers. such content can make a splash and become really viral.
Periodically describe some controversial topics, consider the issue from an unexpected angle, give someone's statements that do not fit into the usual formulations. But at the same time, it is important to be careful, because you can reach provocative topics. If you guess right with the topic and correctly present it to readers, your posts will definitely be discussed in social networks and forums. Moreover, such articles will be happy to host even large portals, which will increase the attendance of your resource and the number of subscribers. And that's exactly what you need!
3. Focus on your audience, try to satisfy their needs and desires. Analyze the texts that your readers like the most. It is important to understand what interests them. Knowing this will help you create posts that users will really like. Do not just increase the amount of content on the site. It is important to offer people what they really need. Then they will answer you with more likes and reposts.
4. Users like themed contests. Therefore, the blogger needs to come up with some kind of contests that could interest visitors. In the conditions, you must indicate the mandatory placement of a link to your site. This will increase the number of subscribers and links.
5. Post educational content. This will attract readers. It is advisable to create a series of articles in which you will teach visitors something. Such content will definitely be shared in social networks.
These tips will make your website content more popular on social media.
4 tips to help you run successful promotions on the site
Probably every modern person has come across such phrases: “Second product as a gift”, “Sale 30%”, “Seasonal sale”, “Everything is half price”, “Get 25% more” and so on. There are actually thousands of options and they are found both offline and in online commerce.
All people at least once bought products on the stock. How do they feel when they purchase products at a significant discount or receive an additional portion for free? As a rule, buyers feel that they made the right choice, because less money was spent, and more benefits were received. Such moral satisfaction is inherent in most consumers. It seems that everything is so simple, you make a promotion in an online store and you get sales growth, a large average bill and a lot of revenue. But in practice, many promotions do not bring entrepreneurs a positive effect in sales. Why don't stocks work? Maybe promotional offers are not really such an effective marketing tool as they seem? No, promotions are a proven technique that definitely works, but at the same time requires a competent approach and proper implementation. In this article, we will consider the main aspects that characterize a successful promotional offer that brings profit to the company and is able to interest the target audience.
1. Demand and relevance
The relevance of the special offer is the most important element of success. Only a vital action can interest the buyer, and he will not be able to resist the conversion action. So what is a good special offer? This is when a potential buyer already wanted to purchase a product that solves his current problems, and then your company appears offering a ready-made solution, in addition, you give a discount or free shipping. For example, you can offer to recycle an old mobile phone, and in return you offer a 10% discount on any phone in your online store. Such offers are very relevant for a large number of people, because the old phone would have to be thrown away anyway, and the new device would have cost more. Every business, if you think carefully, can offer its audience really relevant and useful promotions.
2. The best product at the price of the usual
This is a classic tactic for fighting competitors. To give an example, you can offer a more modern laptop model at the price of an outdated one. For the price of a conventional air conditioner, offer a system with additional filters. Instead of a standard business lunch, you can offer a menu with a free dessert. Improving the quality of a product without increasing the price is exactly what all consumers like. However, everything needs to be well thought out. You should not make a promotion for products that are already in good demand - they will still be bought without additional bonuses.
3. Restrictions
Now you can see many online stores that carry out the same promotions on an ongoing basis or almost their entire range is marked with a “Promotion” sticker. In fact, this is no longer a special offer, but simply the terms of cooperation. The value of an action lies in its limitedness and lack of consistency. Various restrictions work very well. These can be quantity limits, for example, “47 promotional items left”. A time limit is widespread, for example, “Only 3 days” or “After 16-00 25% discount”.
Such psychological triggers make the consumer a little worried that he may miss out on his benefits. Accordingly, the client will not shelve the deal. A very good way to teach the target audience to buy more is various discount coupons. They cannot be bought at any time, but only within 3-5 days after the purchase. The validity period of such coupons also needs to be limited, but not very much, as a rule, they work for 1-2 months.
4. Call to action
Some novice marketers are afraid to tell the client directly what is required of him. This is wrong, because a person can get confused on the site and leave it. The call to action clearly shows what the visitor can get and what he will have to do to get it. You may have a banner on your website that reads “50% discount on shoes. There are 100 pairs left. It would seem that everything is done correctly, but the conversion is not observed. The point is that such a proposal lacks a call to action. This can critically reduce the effectiveness of the campaign. You need to push the user to the target action, for example, "Press the button and buy cheaper. " You need to understand that there are no universal calls to action. Depending on the specifics of the business and the characteristics of the target audience, they will work differently. Accordingly, any CTA elements should be tested.
It is worth noting that all the proposed recommendations work both offline and on the Internet, but online companies can use these tools much more efficiently, because they are more dynamic and flexible than large networks. Online stores can monitor the performance of promotions very accurately by conducting split tests and analyzing the data obtained. It is much more expensive and more expensive for large networks to monitor all this.
4 tips to increase the likes and shares of your content
If your articles are shared on social networks, they are reposted, this is very good. It means that your articles are really of high quality. This, in turn, increases interest in your web project, there is an increase in traffic and positions in search engines. But not all content can boast of a lot of reposts. Most of the articles are neglected, although they are very useful and interesting. Why is this happening? How to interest users and get them to share your texts more actively? Here are some tips:
1. You need to create content that you would like to share. No one will share a large canvas of text on social networks. Users love interesting pictures, infographics, videos. This is the kind of content they like and repost. One text is not enough now.
Visual content is easier to understand. Therefore, it is imperative to dilute articles with images and graphics. 
Also, articles with lists, reports, interviews with experts receive a large number of hyperlinks and reposts. Users like this kind of content and often share it with their friends. If you want people to share your information, create just such posts. Readers will appreciate them.
2. You need to study your niche. The owners of visited resources constantly conduct various studies in their field. This allows them to create relevant content that will really interest the audience of their resource. Similar articles are always actively shared in social networks.
3. It is necessary to improve all the time and try to improve the quality of each subsequent article. Such a professional approach will allow you to create really good content that will definitely become popular.
Analyze your old texts that received a lot of likes and reposts, identify patterns and try to make new texts better than the previous ones.
4. Create entertaining articles. Do not always stick to a strict business style. Humor never hurts. So you will become closer to your readers, and they will gladly share your texts.
You can also do tests and surveys. With their help, you will learn more about your readers. All tests and surveys should be unobtrusive and easy to understand for people.
4 Signs That Your Online Store Is in Trouble
Experts do not advise you to calm down and rest on your laurels, even if the online store has luxurious functionality, has an original design project and offers a wide selection of goods.
Usually they study traffic statistics (Google Analytics) and other analytical indicators, find a problem and determine ways to solve it. But there are signs, the appearance of which requires immediate action.
- Not indexing
New products are added to the catalog and site pages, contests, quizzes and various promotions are held, but there is no indexing by search engines? It's time to seriously work on the uniqueness of descriptions, take care of SEO optimization of product cards and remove duplication.
- No visitor reviews
Conversion rates are linked to comments as people pay attention to the opinions of other buyers. To fix the problem, they check the convenience of the response form, the availability of the captcha set, cancel the mandatory registration.
The number of responses increases if you encourage visitors to leave comments. For this, bonus systems and bonuses for the best commentators are used.
- High Bounce Rate and Abandoned Carts
Why are visitors badly converted into customers? Perhaps the problem is difficult navigation, an unpleasant design, or descriptions that do not motivate a purchase. Incomplete transactions (cart not redeemed) are often due to confusing navigation, as well as a lengthy and time-consuming checkout process. Buyers are distracted from the purchase or refuse at the last moment, being unsure of the privacy or security of the payment.
- High traffic but products not selling
It is not uncommon for a site to be in top positions, traffic is off scale, everything is perfectly SEO optimized, and sales are sluggish. The main reasons: people do not trust (no guarantees, vague delivery conditions), registration is required (scares away), payment methods are limited, the price of products is unreasonably high.
3 Techniques for Using Visual Content Effectively
This is why bloggers should use visual content on their websites. So they will be able to convey the necessary information to readers in a more pleasant and understandable form. Images not only add variety to articles, but also make them more effective.
Studies have shown that texts with relevant pictures get about 90% more views. Therefore, it is imperative to use visual content. But at the same time, you need to correctly combine visual information with textual information. How to do it? Here are some simple tips:
1. Use high quality images
The eye of any reader immediately falls on the picture, which is located under the title of the post. The image draws attention, making the text itself readable. This must be used. You just need to post high quality photos. Then the articles will be actively shared in social networks. But at the same time, it is important to choose the right parameters for pictures so that they correspond to the features of social networks. For example, for Facebook, images must have a resolution of at least 600x315 pixels, otherwise they will turn out to be too small.
It is important that the image is relevant to the text. It should reflect or supplement the information that was disclosed in the article. It is advisable to post a photo in each section of the post. Then the text itself will become more understandable.
There are many services that offer free photos. Let's say you can find a large number of pictures on the Unsplash website.
2. Use infographics
Infographics are a great way to communicate relevant information. And it can attract a lot of traffic. Infographics are often shared in social communities.
Some bloggers don't use infographics because creating them takes a lot of time and effort. But there are tutorials online that will make it easier to create this type of content. Over time, a blogger will learn how to quickly make infographics.
You can borrow it from other sites. Only in this case it is important to indicate the name of the author and his website. Do not engage in ordinary theft.
3. Use tables and charts
Diagrams can be used to visually compare things. And it will be much more effective than a text description. The user will understand the information better. Pie charts are suitable for displaying percentage data on technical or information sites.
3 main mistakes of online stores
Many people choose and buy products on the Internet. Household appliances, electronics, souvenirs, flower delivery, air and railway tickets, books, clothes - this is only a small part of the areas of online trading. The Ecommerce Europe Association has predicted that in 2016 the number of online shoppers in Russia will exceed 40 million people.
New online stores are popping up every day trying to meet such a huge demand. They are created on various platforms. However, mistakes can be made that scare away potential buyers. We will talk about common mistakes that reduce people's trust in online stores. We'll also look at how to fix them.
1. Poor design of the product catalog
You need to understand that the product catalog is the main component of any online store, so you should carefully consider its structure. To make it convenient to move between levels, we recommend adding “breadcrumbs”.
If an online store contains a lot of products, it will be difficult for visitors to find a specific item. Therefore, you need to make a search form, add filters or sorting.
The product page should contain a catchy description, detailed description, photos from different angles. You can also make a video review that creates the effect of presence.
You can draw attention to individual products with the help of special labels “new”, “promotion”, “hit”. Don't forget about discounts too.
2. Not enough contact information
You need to specify the maximum amount of contact information in order to earn the trust of visitors. Place on the site the phone numbers of different operators, detailed address, e-mail, working hours, Skype, ICQ, bank details. Add store photos and location map.
Connect online consultant. Communicate, offer additional products, convince users to make a purchase. An online consultant is able to increase the turnover of a virtual store by 20%.
3. Lack of comments and reviews
Reviews and comments increase people's trust in the store. Be sure to ask customers to leave a review after making a purchase. Your friends can leave the first comments. You can also buy reviews on special services.
- How to create an online store: quickly and without extra costs
- 6 elements of a selling online store
- 5 tips for promoting your content on social media
- 4 tips to help you run successful promotions on the site
- 4 tips to increase the likes and shares of your content
- 4 Signs That Your Online Store Is in Trouble
- 3 Techniques for Using Visual Content Effectively
- 3 main mistakes of online stores
- 1. Poor design of the product catalog
- 2. Not enough contact information
- 3. Lack of comments and reviews
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