9 Steps to Start an Ecommerce Business

4 min read

Ecommerce is booming.

There is money to be made now and even more in the future.

It’s tempting to jump into the online marketplace as quickly as possible, but that isn’t a good idea.

It’s absolutely a great idea to start an online business. The marketplace has been booming, but running an online business is more complex than simply throwing up a website and waiting for customers.

Even the best laid plans can become hopelessly ensnared with hold-ups, delays and complications.

That’s why it’s best to slow down. Plan carefully. And build an e-commerce business step-by-step that is more likely to last and be profitable for years to come.

Step 1: Determine Your Brand

Many brick and mortar businesses start with a product. You are going to sell an item or a service and the brand and methods are secondary. That’s not how it works online. In the ecommerce marketplaces, you will first determine how you want to present your company to the world at large. What brand and persona do you want to create? The product is secondary.

Step 2: Create a Business Model

You want to be a fun and youthful company. Or present yourself as a classic and classy entrepreneur. Whatever your persona, your next step is to create the business plan for your product. Will you be moving physical items? Selling services? What is your plan for inventory and the resource pipeline and scheduling?

Step 3: Recognize Potential Bottlenecks

Recognize Potential Bottlenecks
Recognize Potential Bottlenecks

Before you take your business any farther, consider the things that may hold you back. Is your time limited? Your budget? Make your limitations clear from the start so that you can either work within those parameters or find a way to bring in additional resources so that you can follow the business plan you just created.

Step 4: Build the Website

You know what you want to sell, and more importantly you know how you want to present it. You know what your budget and your resources are. Now it’s time to bring it all together to create your online store. It’s possible to outsource much of this work provided you have a strong plan and direction or you can keep much of the creation in-house if you work with an existing platform or have the necessary design experience.

Step 5: Lay the SEO Framework

Lay the SEO Framework
Lay the SEO Framework

While the days of easy keyword stuffing are long gone, search engine optimization is still very much alive and well, if a bit more integrated and complex. As you build your website, be mindful of the words and content you’re using. Also build some quality links to your e-commerce store as they influence rankings too. Make your site easy to navigate not only for your human visitors, but for the digital ones as well.

Step 6: Develop a Marketing Plan

What is your plan for bringing customers to your website? While SEO will have many long-term benefits, it is no guarantee of future success, and certainly cannot be counted on for any immediate sales. Your marketing plan will be tied to your product or service, of course, but there are many ways to reach your target market online.

Will you be paying for advertisements on other sites? Creating native ads such as videos and articles? Self-promoting through online communities? Develop a marketing plan that matches your goals, your budget and your time – marketing will be the most labor and cost sensitive aspect of your emerging business.

Step 7: Build a Clientele

Your first sale is exciting. So is the second. But what is even more exciting is when customers come back and buy more from you in the future. This means you’re going to need a way to contact them about new offerings and promotions.

Build a clientele by offering free promotions, getting customers to sign up for a newsletter, gathering up emails for the occasional special message or birthday greeting. These aren’t just your customers for the day – they are your clients for the life of the business.

Step 8: Become Active in Your Community

Become Active in Your Community
Become Active in Your Community

To sell things from your brick and mortar business, you try to get out and be active in your physical community. The same is true in the online world. If anything, networking is even more important online. Build relationships with upstream and downstream businesses.

Join communities in your industry. Get to know what others are doing and what they aren’t – you might discover a profitable niche nobody is covering. You won’t know until you get out there to look.

Step 9: Revamp and Reinvent as Necessary

Finally, no online business is successful in the same way for eternity. And the online attention span is even shorter than the physical ones. Keep careful tabs on your stats. Work hard to stay ahead of the curve and be immediately reactive to changes in the online environment.

A well-developed brand can bring in new products and archive old ones. Build a business around what you do and how you do it and you can shift quickly as the marketplace ebbs and flows around you.

If you want your ecommerce business to thrive, you’ll need more than a good name and catchy product. A sustainable business model involves careful planning, careful design and – perhaps most critically of all – careful, ongoing development. A well-built ecommerce business is not only well-crafted, but also adaptable to the fast-paced online environment. This can only be achieved through meticulous planning.

13 thoughts on

9 Steps to Start an Ecommerce Business

  • Dharmik Babariya

    Hey Oleg,

    In today’s world, most of the business is online. E-commerce business is one of the most popular nowadays. You shared such great tips for a newbie who wants to start the first e-commerce business. Thank you for your time and effort to share this article with us.

    Keep up the good work.

    Have a nice day!

  • Ravi Sharma

    Amazing And Useful Information.
    You Have Attractive Domain Name And Blog Desgin.
    Thanks.

  • Donna Merrill

    Hi Oleg

    There are many things to set up with an e-commerce site.

    You’ve given a great outline of the whole process.

    Of course the big issue is always marketing.

    Like you say, you must have a clear marketing plan in place.

    It’s one thing to set up an e-commerce site, and another to drive traffic to it… and high-quality traffic at that.

    That’s the biggest challenge in starting an e-commerce.

    -Donna

  • Taka

    Hi Oleg,

    This is a great overview of how to start an ecommerce site and anybody starting one should read this. Building a website is easy these days, but creating a sustainable business is not. Especially, dropshipping may sound so easy on paper – just create a website, promote other people’s products and wait for order to come in – but it’s not! Enjoyed reading this post. Thanks!

  • Joy Healey

    Hi Oleg,

    I think you have pointed out the mistakes that many people (including me) made when first starting out. I was too quick to “rush in”, expecting immediate results because “they” told me it was “easy to make money online”. It is NOT!

    My other big mistake was trying to target “everyone” rather than finding a particular market-place.

    But anyone who follows your tips on starting and ecommerce business will have a much better chance of success.

    Joy Healey – Blogging After Dark

    • Oleg Kaluger

      Hey Joy,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Yeah, most people refer to blogging and internet marketing as an easy work … write some articles, build some links and you are done! But that isn’t how it works and by the time the new guy figures out, he is already on a wrong path.

      Excellent point about going niche – that is how you become an expert and build an audience.

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Brandi Gates

    Such an amazing steps for ecommerce business, i really appreciate you because you have nicely done everything in one post as you ever did
    Thank you for sharing new knowledge with us

  • Navin Rao

    Cool tips there, creating an e-commerce site is not a piece of cake, it needs a full proof strategy to bring that ROI.

    E-commerce business is very profitable if done in the right way. Understanding the pain points of the viewers will play a big role to nourish an e-commerce business.

    I believe , focus should be on both SEO and advertisements(FB, adwords) as well to create a profitable site.

    Have a great day ahead!

  • Vineet Saxena

    Hi Oleg,
    As someone who is a E-commerce vendor on major E-commerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart and PayTM(India), it is not easy to beat the competition. SEO is the key here. Trick is to build your e-commerce website around a particular product, identify keywords around it and create an SEO strategy for the same. I am not saying that it is impossible, I am just saying that focusing on a niche first is better. Trust and customer service also play a crucial role in the success and development of an e-commerce website. Your steps are great and if combines with few other things and actually help create someone next e-commerce biggie.

  • Odhikar

    Thanks for taking the time and writing this post.This is a great overview of how to start an ecommerce site and anybody starting one should read this. Building a website is easy these days, but creating a sustainable business is not. Especially, dropshipping may sound so easy on paper – just create a website, promote other people’s products and wait for order to come in – but it’s not! Enjoyed reading this post.

    Thanks for sharing and have a good day!

  • Odhikar

    Thanks for taking the time and writing this post
    There are many things to set up with an e-commerce site.
    You’ve given a great outline of the whole process.
    Of course the big issue is always marketing.
    Like you say, you must have a clear marketing plan in place.
    It’s one thing to set up an e-commerce site, and another to drive traffic to it… and high-quality traffic at that.
    That’s the biggest challenge in starting an e-commerce.
    Thanks for sharing and have a good day!

  • Farzan

    Hey!
    great blog about how to start an e-commerce site. but an e-commerce site requires a lot of time and dedication and if you have both things that you can build a successful e-commerce site.

  • Wasim

    A great blog about how to start an e-commerce site.

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