How to Create eCommerce Revenue

If you’ve been sitting on the fence about building a stream of eCommerce revenue, now’s the time to get off the fence. More customers now than ever before are turning to the internet to make safe and secure purchases online.

Several big names pop up when it comes to the world of online shopping, and there’s a common misconception that businesses need a big budget and plenty of resources to get an eCommerce website up and running, but that’s simply not true. With the guidance and expertise of a team of marketing professionals, you’ll be able to make this easy pivot.

Pick Your Products

Not all of your products or goods will sell well online. Choose items that you can ship without having specialty or cumbersome packaging — both of which are more expensive options. Look to your best sellers, the items that are in-demand, and the solutions to every-day challenges that you know your customers face. For local customers, think about what items they can buy online and pick up at your physical location with ease.

If you’re starting a new business, create a core set of products and make sure you can secure that inventory from vendors before offering it to customers. Don’t overlook asking for feedback on what shoppers would like to access on your website from the comfort of their computer or mobile device.

Create a Plan

The one thing that never changes about owning a business is that you can’t plan enough. Everything you do to keep cash flowing needs a robust plan with a margin for error, and your pivot to eCommerce is not an exception. Start with something fundamental: a business plan. For existing businesses, it’s important to revisit this to ensure your online website design and marketing plan aligns with your overall growth goals.

Take some time to research the competition and incorporate your findings into the plan to upgrade your website. Visit the websites of a few of the most well-known industry leaders and take notes. Pay attention to what you don’t like; as a business owner, you have a distinct advantage to see both sides of a purchase transaction. Break down your budget and make sure your digital marketing presence is clear on financial restraints so there are no surprises.

Build the Site

After you’ve fleshed out the nuts and bolts of your eCommerce site design process, it’s time to build it — with the help of web design professionals.  Your marketing team should be able to connect you with a designer who will collaborate effectively with the whole team. There are a lot of moving parts and while many platforms offer a short learning curve for users of all technical skill levels, web designers are crucial for putting all those moving parts together and making sure they’re working even after business hours.

Existing sites can be easily upgraded as well. If you’ve already established your online presence and the existing business site gets reasonable traffic, adding third party integrations and supplementing with social media and paid ads can help it become a revenue-driving machine that’s working 24/7. Don’t be tempted to DIY an eCommerce website yourself, but do feel like you can be as involved in the website building process as it is necessary to watch a vision come to life.

Preparing for Launch

Once you’re happy with your custom website, get your audience excited to visit it! Talk to your marketing team about how to ramp up social media marketing getting everyone ready to make an online purchase. Thoroughly review each page and section of the website with your marketing team to make sure the links work, the product images are clear and accurate, and customers can make payments online safely and with ease.

Once the site is live and working the way it should, talk to your marketing team about regular maintenance and promotional tasks you can perform on your own. You’ll become more familiar with tech tools and empower you to find ways to optimize the site and its marketing autonomously. Consistently check up on how well your site works to be ahead of any technical issues that a website designer needs to take care of.

Designing a business website that drives eCommerce revenue means a lot more than just choosing key colors and using keywords. You need to ensure that your website has caught shoppers’ attention and encourages them to make a purchase, increasing your bottom line. Learn about our website solutions to help you get eCommerce revenue flowing.