If you are thinking of joining the many hundreds of thousands of US people that make their living selling products online, there’s a lot to take onboard. It certainly isn’t a given that you’ll be successful; that depends on a number of things; your line of products, digital marketing and, of course, your prices.
Here is a list of services that you should outsource when setting up an e-store.
- Web design, build and hosting – This is one service that you simply cannot do without and you can find everything you need from a single provider. The first step is to think about your website address, or your URL and it must be a unique name; we recommend keeping your URL short, as this is easier to remember and you can register the domain name for 2-3 years, after which, you need to renew; it only costs a few dollars. Web-hosting comes in several packages to suit every business, plus the provider is happy to be your webmaster and administrate your platform. Talk to an Oregon based managed IT services provider for a single stop solution for all your web needs.
- Digital marketing – This is a must-have service, which should be ongoing; outside of a few of your friends sharing the link to your e-store, you won’t really get the exposure you need to make a living. Search engine optimization is a critical service to drive traffic to your website and that needs to be ongoing if you want to retain a high ranking within specific searches. Lots of keyword research needs to be done to choose the best performing search terms that the online consumer uses, which will be carefully inserted into your website. Here are a few tips to welcome new customers into your company.
- Speedy logistics – From the moment the customer clocks on ‘buy now’, the clock is ticking and the only way that you can guarantee fast delivery is by hooking up with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider. Simply deliver your products and packaging to the 3PL warehouse, and they will handle picking, packing & delivery on your behalf; you just forward the orders via email and the rest is done! Late deliveries will not get you any stars on popular review platforms, indeed, many online shoppers will go elsewhere to avoid late delivery.
- Cyber-security – Any website that handles financial transactions must be secure, which is denoted by the ‘s’ in ‘https’, or a small padlock at the start of the URL window. An SSL certificate needs to be acquired and that is something your IT support partner can handle. Penetration testing will ensure that no hacker can gain access to your critical data, protecting your customers’ financial data from cyber-criminals.
A lot depends on the line of product you are selling; trends at the moment are for green products and natural ingredients and if you can find a niche market, so much the better. It is quite easy to set up a business here in the US and then you can keep records and file a tax return at the end of your second year of trading.
